Equestria Girls: Mysteries of Magic
by Atlas Ultima
Summary: The Battle of the Bands ended with a bang, shining rainbows in the sky above to close the curtains on the current threat at the time. However, one teenage boy sees this and seems to have a hunch on the existence of magic in the human world. Wanting to prove his theory true, he and his friends are on the case to find out that there's much more than meets the eye.
1. P: Cause and Effect

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome, welcome. I had this planned for awhile, but I went through so many revisions before coming to the final product. This is what I finally decided on, so I hope you enjoy as I am really excited to write this. A couple of ground rules:**

**1\. This will take place after Rainbow Rocks in terms of the timeline.**

**2\. I know the superpowers didn't come into play until the fourth movie, but I'll be trying to find a way for it to appear earlier than canon. Just a heads up.**

**3\. This is gonna need at least two chapters to fully set up what I got planned for the entire story.**

**W****ithout further ado, let's begin!**

**Prologue: Cause and Effect**

A cool wind blew through the city as a young man looks up at the sky, seeing not the usual clouds, but a gigantic winged unicorn from afar. Despite how far he was, he felt its presence as it then fired a rainbow at something near it. Next thing he knew, a bright light came from the point of impact, shining above the horizon and made him squint his eyes for a moment before disappearing. He quickly got his phone out after recovering from the shock and framed it just right before taking a pic, which was just in time before the creature faded away.

"OK... now I know this ain't a dream." The boy said to himself before he started to text his friends.

_L: I saw another phenomenon just now!_

_S: Another one?_

_V: What happened?_

_L: It was a giant winged unicorn of light!_

_V: Really?_

_S: Isn't that called an alicorn?_

_L: Yeah, that! Sorry, brain fart._

_V: Can this wait until tomorrow? I'm tired from today._

_S: Fair enough. I still have some homework to do._

_L: All right. We'll talk later._

He then put his phone away before hopping on his bicycle, heading home to rest for tomorrow.

* * *

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

A hand smacks the top of the alarm clock, silencing it as the sun started to shine through the window. Usually, the boy in bed would just lay there for a moment before getting up, but today was different as he hops out of bed to get ready. After getting a shower, he dries himself before putting on his school uniform. Leaving his blazer open, he then looks at himself in the mirror.

His hair was down as it reaches past his ears a bit and the bangs just above his eyes, making him let out a small sigh before getting a bit of gel to pull his hair back with. Now, the hair had the spiky look he liked along with the black color that was complimented by the golden highlights. His light tangelo skin added to it along with his sapphire eyes as he smirks.

"Looking good." He said to the mirror.

After getting the rest of his stuff, he jets out of his bedroom and slid down the railing on his stairs, landing smoothly as he then jogs into the kitchen to snatch an energy bar before heading out the door. Once locking it and getting his bicycle, he rode down the street towards school with his excitement from yesterday still fresh in his mind.

As he cycled down the road towards his destination, he goes his usual route as he cruises on the sidewalk to avoid other walkers who were out and about. He weaved in and out like a snake slithering on through, going down the street until he passes an intersection crossing. Upon reaching the other side, he high fives the officer that is posted there just as he passes him.

He then hears a familiar revving of a motorcycle, seeing a red one cruising up next to him on the street. Even with the matching helmet, he recognized his friend on sight as he briefly waves at him. The rider moved his head in recognition before going on ahead, being the first of the three to arrive there anyways. He then took a left as the bicyclist stopped at the corner of the intersection.

Since he got up earlier today, he isn't stressing about being late due to the extra time as he waited at the crosswalk. After a few minutes, he notices the flow had changed as the red hand changed to a white figure, allowing him to head across. Riding on straight and then left immediately, thanks to no cars going pass at the moment, he manages to reach the parking lot behind the school where his friends were waiting.

After parking and locking his bike securely, he then hears one of them call out.

"Come on, Levin. You're always in last place."

Levin looks over to see his other friend with a smirk on his face as he held his skateboard under his left arm.

The two wore the male school uniform like Levin, but their appearances are where the similarities end.

The motorcyclist has pale light amaranth skin, crimson red unkempt hair that reaches the ears, and silver eyes.

The skateboarder has pale light amber skin, magenta lilac eyes, and dark green hair that also reaches his ears with his bangs parted at his right eye under a black beanie.

"So what? I ain't in no hurry." Levin simply responded back with.

The two looked at each other before looking back, "New girl- I mean friend, we don't know about?" The motorcyclist wasn't very subtle at his joke.

"Wait, you're saying that THE Visor and Shade are jealous that I might have one before them?" Levin jabs back, "Besides, you saw me earlier."

"I know, I'm just messing with ya." Visor then pushes himself off his motorcycle, "Anyways, what was the important thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, right!" Immediately, Levin pulls out his phone and presses on the recent picture in his gallery. "Got a picture this time."

Turning his phone around, he shows the two the alicorn in the sky that he saw last night.

"Not bad. The night sky compliments the glowing figure." Visor was impressed by how it was taken.

"Even then, it looks like someone may have drew it. Did you steal someone else's work off the internet?" Shade wasn't wrong as Levin looks at the pic himself.

"First off, no. Second, this IS what it looked like." Levin reaffirmed his point as he showed them the pic again.

"OK, OK, no need to get defensive." Shade laid off for now with his hands lazily in the air in mocking surrender.

"And this is related to the 'quadruple rainbow' you told us about before?" Visor brought up.

"Honestly, I'm starting to think this is interconnected." Levin pinched the idea to the two.

"Well, as you're thinking about how they are, we're gonna be late." Visor reminded them.

The other two realized that they still have school to deal with, "We'll continue this at lunch, then." Levin suggested.

The trio then headed off to class as they entered through the doors to Crystal Prep.

* * *

Once the bell rang, Levin was the first out of his second period class as he headed to the cafeteria. He looks over the notes he wrote down for his rainbow theory, being sure that he had it short and to the point for the explanations when he bumps into someone.

"Oof!" The only sound that escaped his mouth as he fell to the ground.

He held onto his notes tightly to avoid dropping them as the person he bumped into quickly went around him. He hears the footsteps and turns towards the sound, seeing a glimpse of a girl turn the corner. Sadly, he didn't get a good look as he got back on his feet.

"Uh, sorry?" He was understandably confused by that, but shrugged it off as he continued on to the cafeteria.

It didn't take long before he found the place, entering it as other students went through the doors and looks around. He then hears a whistle sound and turns towards it to see Shade sitting at a table near the window. Quickly walking over, he takes a seat as he places his notes on the table.

"Not hungry?" Levin wondered.

"Not really. Though, I might snatch something from Visor's tray." Shade answered as he notices the paper, "Notes for your class?"

"Notes for my theory when I was in class." Levin corrected.

"You're not doing classwork now?" The two hears Visor say as he sat down with his tray.

"Well, there wasn't much to the lesson today. Basic literature on the story we're currently doing." Levin then changes the subject, "Anyways, here's what I wrote so far."

Pointing at the drawings he drew, he points his finger at the 'quadruple rainbow'. "Almost a month ago, I was going back home late from shopping when I saw this in the sky. The direction from where it showed up was near CHS." He then took out a pencil and drew a line from the rainbow to a drawing of CHS.

"So, is the school the source?" Shade guessed.

"That's what I thought until I realized that the alicorn showed up over where the amphitheater was, which is way farther from the school than where the 'quadruple rainbow' appeared from." Levin explained as he took the pencil and drew a line from the alicorn to a drawing of the amphitheater.

"Wait, didn't the alicorn have a rainbow mane?" Visor remembered seeing that in the picture.

Levin took out his phone and went to the gallery to see the picture, "Yeah, look!" He turns the phone to show it to the two.

"I doubt that's a coincidence." Shade added.

"Oh yeah, we're onto something now." Levin then put his phone away and took his pencil to draw a line between the rainbow and the alicorn, "So, if these two are considered the same, why did they appear in two separate locations?"

"Two things come to mind about that." Shade answered, "Either the locations have a source of magic or the rainbow caused the magic to spread through the city for it to awaken at certain times."

"The former would make more sense..." Visor then looks at the drawings, "But even then, we have no evidence to prove that."

"Which means... we're stuck." Levin concluded as he sees Shade move his hand towards Visor's tray, who gently smacks his hand away.

"Use your manners." Visor said in a joking tone.

Shade smirks at that, "Still as sharp as ever."

Levin pulls out his energy bar, pulling off the wrapper before taking a bite out of it.

"You still eat those?" Levin rolls his eyes at Visor, "How long has it been since you had a proper lunch?"

"Ever since I started researching this." Levin admits, much to Visor's annoyance as he took another bite.

"Sheesh, what's wrong with a homemade lunch?" Visor mutters before he hands him his apple, "Balance it at least."

Not wanting to hear another lecture, he accepts the apple. "Thanks."

Visor then looks at Shade, expecting something as the latter sighs.

"Oh please sir, may I have food?" Shade jokingly pleaded.

Visor wasn't amused at that, "Close enough." Looking back at his tray, he then gives Shade a small pack of peanut butter crackers.

"Well whatever the connection is, we'll find it sooner than later." Levin reassures them.

"But now, we eat." Shade simply said as he starts eating the crackers.

* * *

Levin scratches his head as he looks at all the notes he made over the past two weeks on his bulletin board in his room. Rain fell from outside the house as he then hears a quiet rumble in the distance, distracting him from his work as he looks out the window to see how dark it gotten.

"It's really coming down out there." He mutters to himself.

He then hears another growl, which was louder to his ears as he looks down at his stomach. Thinking about it, he hasn't eaten anything ever since he got home from school today. Putting down his pencil on his desk, he exited his bedroom and headed downstairs to the kitchen to fix something up. However, as he was entering the living room, he started to hear voices.

Strangely, even with the rain coming down, he can hear them pretty well.

"Will you just knock on the door!?"

"And say what!? In case you haven't noticed, we've been turned away more than once!"

"Maybe third time's the charm?"

Levin pinpoints the noise towards his front door before walking on over to look through the peephole. Three girls stood on the porch as they spoke to each other still. Even with their hoods down, he couldn't see much except the silhouettes of rather large hair on their heads in the dark.

"If that's what you think, go ahead. I doubt they'll listen to you."

"I'm still surprised the first one didn't budge to you."

"Like you did better than me. I think you scared yours."

"Yeah, that's what I was going for."

He heard sarcasm in that last sentence before seeing one of them lunge at the door, surprising him as he reels back and hears banging on the door.

"PLEASE HELP US! PLEASE!"

His doubts disappearing in that moment, he quickly unlocks the door and opens it to then get jumped on by the desperate girl. She held him by the collar of his shirt as she repeats herself.

"LET US STAY! LET US STAY! LET US STAY!"

"OK, OK, calm down." Levin wasn't sure what to do as the other two girls pried the third off him.

Recovering from the sudden grab, he got a better look at the girls. Their clothes were drenched along with their hair and small smudges of dirt on their faces as they stood in front of him. They wore similar clothing that consists of a hoodie and pants, but that's where the similarities end.

One had pale apple green skin and long orange hair with yellow streaks that is held up by a spiked headband, another had pale light fuchsia skin and purple hair with light aquamarine streaks in pigtails held up by hair bands with silver stars around them, and the last one had arctic bluish white skin and light blue hair with dark blue streaks in a ponytail held by a simple blue hairband.

"Excuse us for barging into your home, but we really need someplace to stay for the night." The orange-haired girl sheepishly smiled as she said that.

Noticing them shivering and the cold winds blowing in the rain, Levin made his decision as he closed the door and locks it. "I'm not one to turn down a pretty girl, much less three of them."

Next thing he knew, the blue-haired girl grabs him into a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She was very happy.

"...Glad to help... can't breathe." Levin was surprised at her strength.

After escaping the hug and escorting them to the living room, introductions were in order.

"Name's Levin Reed, by the way."

"I'm Adagio Dazzle, this is Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk." The orange-haired girl, now named Adagio, returns the greeting as she gestures to who's who.

"Nice to meet you. Let me just get you towels real quick." Levin then headed upstairs, leaving the trio alone.

"Kinda weird that a kid answered the door." Aria pointed out.

"Much less stays in a house this big." Adagio looks around at the size of the interior that matched with the exterior, "Do you know what this means?"

"He like big things?" As usual, Sonata has the silly answer.

"This means that he must have quite the fortune to have all this. It seems that luck has finally come our way." Adagio clarifies for them.

"Well, look at that. Now we just need some food." Aria rubbed her tummy as she said this.

They then heard Levin come back downstairs with towels in one arm and three sets of clothes in the other.

He hands them the towels as he spoke, "Sorry for the wait. I don't have any clothes for girls, so I had to improvise."

"It would be weird if you did." Aria raised her eyebrow at his comment.

"Good point." Levin chuckled a bit as the three dried themselves, "Anyways, there are three bathrooms. There's one in the hall upstairs, first one on the left."

"I'll use that one." Adagio was the first one to take it as she gets one of the clothes set and goes upstairs.

"All right. There's another one down here right there." Levin gestures to the door in the hall they just came from.

Next thing he knew, Aria grabs a set of clothes before going to the second bathroom.

"OK... last one is in my dad's room upstairs." Levin finishes.

"Oh, so you don't live alone?" Sonata wondered.

"Actually, he travels around a lot, so he's barely here nowadays." Sonata may not be the brightest, but she did catch the subtle tone shift as he said that.

"Must be pretty lonely, huh?" Sonata took the last set of clothes as she asked that question.

"Kinda, from time to time." Levin admits, "Uh, better hurry or you might catch a cold."

Sonata then walks on upstairs, leaving him alone as he pulls out his phone.

_L: OK, wanna know what just happened?_

_S: If it's magic again, I'm gonna classify you as insane._

_V: Whatever it is, you got me curious._

_L: Three girls just came to my doorstep and ask to stay for the night._

_S: ...Yeah, you've gone mad._

_V: That does sound a bit far-fetched. Explain._

_L: I was just doing my research when I was realized I haven't eaten in awhile, so I went downstairs to the kitchen when I heard voices at my front door. Next thing I knew, they came in and asked to stay._

_S: And let me guess, you let them in out of pity?_

_L: I couldn't say no. The rain and the fact that winter is coming will have severe effects on their health._

_V: You're not wrong about that. The forecast said that the rain was gonna keep going overnight._

_S: I'm only skeptical since I heard about people pretending to be homeless to get free stuff._

_L: Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on them._

_S: You better._

After he read the last text, Levin puts his phone in his pocket as he hears the showers going. Remembering that he was hungry, he goes to the kitchen to fix something up for the four to eat. It took a little bit until he decided on chili and rice, getting out a big pot and a medium pot to use.

Once the girls finished showering and had on the clean clothes, a really good smell came from the kitchen that lured them. When they entered, the sight of food on the table made their mouths drool a bit.

"Please don't leave a mess." Levin hoped that he didn't have to clean after them as he held a bowl of his own, already filled with his serving.

Once the three sat down at the table, they dig in instantly. Levin only looked on in curiosity, having more questions pop up in his head to ask them as the girls tried to not leave a mess. However, a couple of stains did land on the tabletop by the time they had their fill. All the rice and even the chili was gone from the pots as Levin took the bowls and spoons over to the dishwasher.

"Guess that was your first proper meal in awhile?" Levin wondered as he places the dishes on the counter.

"You have no idea..." Aria mutters in response.

The other two groan in agreement, due to being quite full as he then got the pots.

"My dad told me that living on the streets is tough." Levin tried to start a conversation.

"Really? You didn't have all this when you were born?" Adagio asked.

"Not really. We only lived in a small apartment when I was growing up." He answers as he puts the pots next to the dishes, "It wasn't until after I turned ten when he got his big break."

He then opens the dishwasher when Sonata spoke, "Did your dad grow up on the streets?"

"Uh, yeah. He didn't really went into detail about it, just that he doesn't want me to experience it myself." He then decided to ask them a question, "What about you guys? Did you have a home?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Adagio answered, "We used to, but we got kicked out thanks to a grumpy old man."

"Ah. We also had an old man that was the manager of the building we were in. Wasn't much of a talker." Levin mentions, "Still, I hate it when people are more concerned about money than anything else."

"You're telling us..." Aria agrees with him on that, "Barely had enough scraps to eat."

"There were one or two nice people, though..." Sonata brought up.

Levin then starts to place the pots and bowls in the racks of the dishwasher, "I guess I'm the third?"

"Yeah, the third house." Aria deadpanned, which the other girls chuckled a bit at.

Once he puts all the dishes in, he closed it up and started the washing cycle. "OK. Now that we've eaten, how about I give you a little tour?"

After cleaning off the tabletop, he then gave the tour by starting with the kitchen through the rest of the first floor.

"You already know the kitchen. Here's the living room, also known as the gaming room, where we have the entertainment."

"The dining room is usually for big parties, which is why we have the table in the kitchen. It's nice to have a bit of class to tie the look together."

"The hallway to the front door, which just has a storage closet and the second bathroom as well."

"The garage, which houses the only car he has since I don't have one... yet."

The four then stopped in front of a door painted blue to stand out from the others, "This, is the only room that's off limits. I care a lot about my privacy that I haven't even brought my friends in here. I trust that you won't trespass?"

"Whatever." Aria shrugged it off.

"Sure." Adagio simply answered.

"Yeah!" Sonata nodded as she answered.

"Excellent. To upstairs!" Levin lead the way as the four went up to the second floor.

There was a simple balcony that overlooks the first floor with a diagonal skylight on the roof across from it as they looked down the hall. "At the end of the hall is my dad's, second door on the left is my room. If you need anything, simply knock on the door. I'm... mostly a light sleeper." Levin was a bit vague on the last part.

"Mostly?" Adagio questioned.

"I have a habit of staying up late for research purposes, which I'll go out like a light when I lay down." Levin clarifies, "Anyways, the other three rooms on the right are vacant for any guests we have over."

"How convenient." Aria commented.

"And that's the tour. Any questions?" Levin finishes with as he then yawns a bit.

"Tired?" Sonata asked, which made him chuckle a bit.

"Kinda, yeah." He answers before turning his head, seeing the digital clock on the wall a few feet above the top of the stairs. "Wow, it's eleven. I seriously need some sleep this time. You guys can choose between yourselves, right?"

"Of course. And thank you for your hospitality, we'll be sure to repay you somehow." Adagio sounded very grateful, but the other two recognized the tone she usually uses to play nice with.

"No need, just doing the right thing." Levin sheepishly smiles at the three before turning towards his room, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The three responds back with before he went in, closing the door behind him.

"Not gonna lie, the secret room is a bit intriguing at least." Adagio admits to them in a lower voice.

"We just got here, do you want get us kicked out already?" Aria reminded her.

"I was just saying, no need to get tense." Adagio couldn't help but smirk at Aria.

"I'm tired, I just want a bed." Sonata wasn't listening at this point.

After the three chose their rooms, which was Adagio in the middle, Sonata on the left, and Aria on the right, the house fell silent as the rain continued throughout the night.

**And done! Wow, this was a lot longer than I thought it would be. But hey, it got what I was going for, I'll roll with it. But even then, I still have a couple more ideas to include before the real meat starts cooking. With that said, thanks for reading and see ya next chapter!**


	2. C1: Crossing Paths

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome, welcome. Let's see what we got:**

**Maelaeran: Hey, good to see you man! Yeah, it ain't as engaging as previous prologues I've done, but I wanted to do more of a slower pace this time around. Since Levin is technically the main protagonist in the story, I wanted to give him more time than the others in his debut. Don't worry, Shade and Visor are up next in terms of screen time length. I know, right? If they wanted to make things more interesting in the original series, why not a mad scientist or a greedy student to try and obtain the magic for self-benefit? I got ya covered on that, don't worry.**

**Thanks for the review, man! I appreciate the feedback. Without further ado, let's get going!**

**Chapter 1: Crossing Paths**

The Canterlot Mall was quite crowded as it was a Saturday, a day where friends usually hang out at and such which includes Shade and Visor as they sat down at a table in the food court. Recently, Levin sent them a message about meeting up in the afternoon to introduce the girls he mentioned last night.

Due to it being the weekend, they wore something else besides their school uniforms.

Shade still wore his black beanie on his head, but now wore a gold short-sleeved shirt under a green jacket, blue pants and white sneakers.

Visor wore a black t-shirt under a red zipped-up hoodie, black pants, and red shoes.

"You know, I never really asked you. Why do you just go along with it?" Shade was curious about Visor's opinion on recent events.

"To be honest, I believe it. I was always fascinated by the street magicians where I used to live at, so the idea of actual magic is just..." Visor kinda sounded a bit like a little kid when he was answering the question.

"You do realize that actual magic is more than just tricks, right?" Shade didn't want to rain on his parade, but he does want everyone on the same page.

"Well yeah, it can do much more. You're talking about the fairy tale type, right?" Visor is getting the picture now.

"Dude, if this magic he's seeing is capable of firing rainbows like energy beams, then it's more dangerous than what it's worth." Shade did have a point.

"OK, that's your opinion. But, why are YOU going along with this?" Visor shoots the question right back at him.

"I've been friends with him since we were young. A difference of opinion doesn't change the fact that I want to make sure he ain't in over his head." Shade explains his view.

"You make it sound like a responsibility." Visor mutters.

"I'm sorry, do you recall the time we met you?" Shade brought up.

"...One week. All just to get a 'hello' out of me." Visor sighs at the memory, "Wow, I was really shy back then."

"Yeah, you kept running when we wanted a conversation." Shade then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, pulling it out to see a text.

_L: We're running a bit late. The girls are washing their clothes since they don't want to leave the house in my clothes._

_S: OK then. We'll be waiting at the food court, it's crowded right now__._

_L: All right, I'll text ya when we get there._

"They have to do a chore before heading on over. Hopefully, it won't be too long." Shade told Visor, who picked up on the sarcastic tone.

"Still don't believe the girls exist?"

"Lack of sleep makes you see things that aren't there. Considering his stubbornness, that could build up to having hallucinations or even worse." Shade answers like he was stating facts.

"If he's as smart as you, he should know that sleep rests his brain." Visor had a good point.

"Creative minds have more difficulty sleeping than others." Shade didn't budge to it, though.

Visor rolls his eyes at this, "All right, we got our points across. Let's talk about something else."

"Yeah, let's do just that." Shade pats the tabletop twice to emphasize the last two words, "How you've been?"

"Delivering pizzas are just as meh as before." Visor casually mentioned, "Still gotta ask for an extra shirt to use..." His annoyed tone saying that made his friend smirk a bit.

"Right, you don't like work clothes. Don't worry, school got you covered." Shade jabs at him.

"Like you don't feel the same at your job. Oh wait..." Visor jabs right back.

"...Touche." Shade simply said as he crosses his legs, "What about your mom? Still out and about?"

"Yeah, she's currently over at Camp Everfree to take some pics in order to get it some business next summer." Visor answered, "She should be back soon."

"Oh yeah, I heard that it might get closed down if it didn't. You think a place known for its history would be immune from business practices." Shade wondered.

"True. But hey, that is the cycle of business." Visor simply shrugs at that, "How's your aunt, Mrs. Brace?"

"Taking the day off to relax. Slow week as usual." Shade answered.

"Well, being the school nurse, a fast week would be concerning." Visor pointed out.

"She doesn't have much to do during school hours, but it let her catch up on some work she needed to do." Shade then uncrosses his legs as he stood up, "I'm getting a bit hungry. Want anything?"

"I heard the sushi restaurant is pretty good." Visor suggested.

"Didn't think you were a sushi fan. Anything in particular?" Shade was still a bit surprised at the choice.

"Nope, up to you."

"Alrighty then." Shade then went off as Visor looks around for the others.

* * *

The crowd died down as Shade walks through it towards the sushi restaurant. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a line to it before he sighs a bit about having to wait. Before he moved into the line, he sees the doors open and stopped in his tracks.

One of the workers walks out of the entrance with a small food box in her hand, wearing a uniform with her hair tied up that reminds him of a gentle flame as she walks towards her destination. Curiosity overwrote his hunger for the moment as he then starts to follow her instead.

_"Why haven't I seen you before?"_ That question pops into his head as he casually walks through the crowd, able to see her through it without losing sight.

Going out to one of the empty spots away from the people, the girl stops for a moment as she looks around. He sees an opportunity now, only to his feet to stay where they were.

_"Come on, I thought this was gone. Just be casual and keep calm."_ Despite being comfortable enough around crowds, his introversion still shows up every now and again.

He then sees the girl walks into the crowd again towards the fountain area, his feet now free to move as he stayed on her trail. Now a bit further away, he caught a glimpse of her before she seemed to have sat down near the fountain. Another opportunity has appeared, what luck!

He sped up his pace as he went straight ahead, making sure not to bump into anyone along the way. Once he reached his destination, he exits the crowd to see her sitting on a bench alone as she ate some vegetables from her box, coming to the conclusion that she may have recently got off work. Seeing more of her appearance, she had light amber skin, vivid crimson hair with brilliant yellow streaks, and moderate cyan eyes.

Stopping in his tracks, he tries to think of a way to start a conversation.

"Do you know the time? Too dumb. Are you new around here? Too cliche. Did it hurt when you-" He then stops himself, "OK, no."

"Excuse me?" Another voice snaps him back to reality. Turns out, the same girl seemed to notice him talking to himself which is understandable since they were standing a few feet away from each other.

"Are you all right?" He blinked at her question before answering.

"Uh yeah, I just like talking to no one." Shade felt awkward that he tried to brush it off with a nervous chuckle.

"Better than stalking, I guess." He tried to hide it, but was still surprised that she was more observant than he thought as he tried to come up with something to say.

"Well- I... uh..." Caught off guard and nothing to say, he then admits defeat. "I'm not exactly sure myself as to why."

"Really? That's not suspicious at all." The girl commented.

Trying to ease the uneasiness, he introduces himself. "S-Shade Scintilla. Pleased to meet you."

"...Sunset Shimmer." The girl hesitated a bit before returning the greeting.

With introductions out of the way, he finds himself breathing a little easier before hearing a growl. Sunset heard that too as he realized that was his stomach.

"Sorry, kinda forgot I went there for lunch. Then again, I guess I'm just starving for knowledge." He sheepishly said.

After hearing his little joke, she looks at him for a moment before letting out a small chuckle. "All right, I see your point."

She then held up her box up a bit towards him, "Want some?"

"Sure, thank you." He sits down next to her before getting one of the sushi rolls and takes a bite, which actually had him stop for a moment before finishing. "Oh wow, this is good."

"Never had sushi before?" Sunset wasn't sure on his reaction.

"No, more like whoever made this before was a little bland." Shade clarifies.

"Would you believe I made that myself?" His eyes widened in amazement, giving her his answer.

"Really? You're a chef?" His amazement didn't dwindle at the question.

"Just got promoted recently. Didn't think I was that good, but I follow directions pretty well." Sunset then looks at him, "What's your job?"

"Oh, uh- I'm in between jobs at the moment. Just following the breeze right now." Shade was honest, but still didn't like the fact that he doesn't have one.

Before she asked why, her phone went off that got her attention. Pulling it out, she sees a text message and widens her eyes. "Oh shoot, I gotta meet my friend at the animal shelter."

"You do volunteer work too?" Shade was a bit surprised as he got up to his feet.

"Yeah. Nice meeting you, by the way." Sunset answers as she puts the lid on her box back on.

"Nice meeting you too." Shade simply said back.

The crowd now has reduced to either lines at nearby places or small groups as she left, Shade watching as his head had only one question.

_"How strange, what's so special about __her?"_

* * *

Visor had only waited a couple of minutes as he looks around, watching the crowd go in and out of nearby stores. Seeing no sign of Levin either, he sighs as he then stood up.

"Come on, I need something to do." He muttered in irritation as he stretches his arms.

As if his request was answered, he hears someone struggling nearby and looks to see a girl wearing attire of a flashy magician carrying a large box in her hands that was filled to the brim with stuff related to magic, most likely for her tricks.

"A magician?" Visor wondered as he then walks on over, "Excuse me, miss!"

She heard him, but it only distracted her as she began to lose her grip. Visor realized his mistake and lunged over just in time to stop the box from falling.

"Sorry about that! Here, let me help." He apologizes to her.

"Well, if that's what you wanted to do, you should have just spoke in a normal voice! Trixie would have had a lot of fragile material ruined by your foolishness!" The girl scolded him in return.

Visor then lifted the box out of her hands, "I said sorry."

The girl notices his sincerity and sighs in annoyance, "Trixie will look past your mistake... for now."

"Uh, OK." Visor had an idea of her personality, mainly due to her saying her name in the sentences. "So, all this for your magic act?"

With the box in his hand, the girl walks around to get a better look at him. Doing that, he was able to get a better look at her appearance. Pale light cornflower blue skin, light gray and light bluish gray hair appearing like stripes, and moderate purple eyes.

"Half of it is." She answered vaguely before studying him a bit further, "Never seen you before. You go to Canterlot High?"

"No, I go to Crystal Prep." Her expression hardened a bit when he said that.

"Oh, how nice. You're helping Trixie out of pity, huh?" Her tone sounded annoyed, making him guess as to why.

"No. If you're talking about the Games, I never was interested in it." He admits, but her expression barely changed.

"Participating or speculating?" She knew the students were pretty competitive either way.

"Both. Plus, we recently transferred over there mainly for our grades." Visor clarifies to her.

Trixie stared at him with an eyebrow raised. She was a bit skeptical, but his words didn't sound like he was lying.

"Fine." She simply said in response.

"Name's Visor Chevalier, by the way." He introduces himself, hoping to ease up the tension a bit.

"Very well. I, am the Great and Powerful..." She builds up her introduction, as he expected from how she talks about herself. "TRIXIE!"

Her shout got the attention of other people nearby for a brief moment before they went on their way, most likely due to already knowing her.

"Well oh Great and Powerful, let's get going before my arms fall off." He joked.

"Fine, fine. Trixie is doing a show here in the mall near the fountain, it's not that far." She lead the way as Visor carried her box of tricks. "You got me curious, you sound like you would know some magic tricks of your own."

"I might. I liked to watch magic shows when I was young." He clarifies for her.

"Is that so? Well, it's your lucky day to have ran into the Great and Powerful Trixie here in Canterlot." She boasted more, "My magic will blow you away."

"Can't wait to see it... after I eat something." He admits.

The two kept walking all the way up to the fountain area where Visor sees someone he recognizes as Shade, which confused him.

"Yo! This is where you wandered off to?" He calls out to him, getting his attention.

"Huh? Why are you-" He then realizes what he meant, "Sorry, got distracted. What's with the box?"

"This is Trixie's box." Visor gestures with his head to point to Trixie next to him.

"Oh, didn't see you there." Shade apologizes for the second time.

"Of course you didn't, I was practicing my vanishing act." She shrugs him off, boasting a bit in the process.

"Wait, I've seen you before..." Shade seems to know her, which got Visor's attention.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie isn't surprised to be recognized on sight." She had a confident grin on her face as she said that.

Shade then snaps his fingers as he remembers, "Last week, I saw you a few blocks down my street. I had a few errands to run, so I couldn't stay around too long."

"Ah yes, I was performing one of my new tricks that day that shows my power over water." Trixie remembers that vividly.

"Water tricks? Sweet." Visor was impressed as he puts down the box on the bench nearby before remembering something, "Did Levin text you yet, Shade?"

Shade pulls out his phone and sees two new texts, answering Visor's question.

_L: Just arrived, heading your way now._

_L: Went to get food or something? Didn't see ya at the food court._

He quickly texts him back to tell him what happened with Visor pulling out his phone as well.

_S: Yeah, but I got distracted._

_V: I helped out a street magician by carrying her box of tricks._

_L: Oh, that's cool. Though, what distracted you, Shade?_

_S: I'll tell you later. Still at the food court?_

_L: Already sitting at a table. Heading back?_

_S: Yeah, see ya there._

"Come on, you can tell us now." Shade looks up to see Visor looking at him, expecting something.

"No." Shade was direct in his response, "Come on, let's go see him."

Before Visor corrected him, Trixie called out to the two."Not gonna stay around?" She sounded a bit offended with her question.

"Sorry, we came here to meet our friend here." Visor answers, making Trixie sighs.

"Very well. We'll meet again, as he proved earlier." Trixie was confident about that.

"Sure thing. See ya around!" Visor then left with Shade back to the food court.

**And done! This took a bit longer than I wanted it to be since I wasn't sure on how I wanted to put a sequence of events with them. Eventually, it came out as two meetings between two familiar characters at the same time. Hope you enjoy this chapter, see ya in the next one!**


	3. C2: Two out of Three

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome, welcome. Let's see what we got now:**

**Maelaeran: Same here. I always hated the 'love at first sight' cliche in cartoons as the conversations were just generally meh. It doesn't really establish any genuine chemistry between two characters like that. I wanted to not only avoid anything that would have made it sound like that, but have it sound like two strangers meeting for the first time. I'm glad that my objective succeeded.**

**johannvanguard: Great to hear that you like the OCs. I worked really hard to make them feel like normal people, or rather actual characters in the series. Your wonders will be answered in time, my friend.**

**Thanks for the feedback, guys! Let's keep going!**

**Chapter 2: Two out of Three**

"I'm getting a little hungry now..." Sonata grumbled to herself as she and the girls walked behind Levin.

The three wore their usual hoodie outfits, as it currently was the only set of clothes that was theirs.

Instead of his school uniform, Levin wore a blue short-sleeved shirt under a black zipped-up hoodie, green pants, and black converse shoes.

The four went to sit at a table in the food court as he spoke, "Don't worry, we'll eat once the guys arrive."

"You said that one of them met a magician?" Adagio recalled.

"Yeah, helped her carry a box of tricks." Levin answered.

"Let me guess, was her name the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie?" Aria did an impression that may have resemble the magician's voice, as far as Levin knew, during the name part.

"Oh! You mean her?" Sonata seemed to remember what she was talking about, "She was a bit conceited, but she does know some cool stuff."

"A bit? You're being nice." Aria chuckled at her choice of words.

"So you three met her before?" Levin was curious now about their history.

"She goes around town and performs 'magic' to entertain an audience, probably just to feed her big ego." Adagio summarizes for him.

Despite what she say, he couldn't help but linger on the part about magic, "Well, that's what a magician does, perform tricks that people see as magic."

"Oh come on, we have used real magic!" Sonata's statement immediately got Levin's attention.

However, he then hears someone else that prevented him from asking his question. "Yo!"

The four turned towards the voice, seeing Visor heading on over to them. "Hey, sorry for the delay."

"Where did Shade go?" Levin thought the two were together when he texted them.

"He headed to the sushi restaurant to get us food, but not before I gloated a bit on being right. Though, he wanted me to tell you that you're still two out of three." Visor explains.

"Two out of three?" Adagio repeated, a bit confused on what he means.

"Well, no offense girls, but Shade thought that Levin made you up." Visor's honesty caught them a bit off guard.

"Any reason as to why he would?" Aria asked.

"Well, this guy likes to pull all-nighters when he gets in his research." Visor puts a hand on Levin's shoulder as he said this.

"I'm trying to break that habit." Levin stated.

"I know you are, I'm just saying." Visor agrees with him as he grabs an empty chair and sat down on Levin's right before introducing himself, "Name's Visor Chevalier, by the way. Pleasure to meet you."

"Adagio Dazzle. Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk." Adagio gestures to who's who as she said their names before turning to Visor, "And Levin already told us about his habit."

"Oh OK." Visor simply said in response.

Next thing the group knew, six food boxes were placed on the table as the holder spoke. "Shade Scintilla. Nice to meet you too."

"Were you eavesdropping?" Visor asked as Shade gives a box to each person.

"Only caught the names. Adagio, Aria, Sonata." Shade answers, giving a box to the girls in the order of the names.

"Not bad, non-believer." Adagio jabs at him.

Shade grabs an empty chair nearby and sat on Levin's left as he spoke, "I apologize for the assumption, but the stuff that comes out of his mouth is just ridiculous sometimes."

"What do you guys say when I'm not around?" Despite his sarcastic tone, Levin was a bit curious about that.

"Nothing too bad, don't worry." Shade's answer got him a playful punch in the arm by Levin.

The girls watched them interact, playing off each other kinda similar to themselves.

"Anyways, let's eat before our food gets cold." Visor pointed out.

Once the six had eaten their lunch, Levin then explained why they were here.

"So, I had two objectives in mind today. Phase one is complete, which is getting us together. Phase two, we shop!" He declares the last two words to emphasize his plan.

"Wait, shopping? How much of it exactly?" Shade was a bit cautious on this.

"Just a few sets of clothes for the seasons. Especially since winter is coming soon, you girls need to keep warm." Levin explains, "Just don't get stuff too expensive. I may have money, but it doesn't mean we go crazy."

"Are you sure? I don't think we deserve that much." Adagio tried to sound humble, but Levin shrugs it off. "I insist. If you're staying with me, I want to make sure you're comfortable."

"What about you two?" Adagio turns to Aria and Sonata for their answers.

"I'm tired of these hoodies, anyways." Aria admits.

"Yes please!" Sonata was very excited about it.

"Alrighty then. I could do a little shopping myself." Shade brought up.

"I don't see why I shouldn't join. Let's get going." After Visor said that, the six left the food court.

They went to the closest clothing store, which was a small clothing outlet that had opened recently. The guys looked around at the impressive display of stylish dresses and neat suits to even fashionable casual clothes while the girls recognized one of the employees at one of the counters on the other side of the place.

"Wait, isn't that the one that is obsessed with making clothes?" Sonata was the first to point it out.

"You mean the one that made her band those strange outfits?" Aria added.

"Either way, she is one of them. If she sees us-"

"Do you need help finding something?" Adagio was cut off as another voice called out to them.

Footsteps were heard going towards them, leading to what she fears might happen. Knowing that running away would raise suspicion, Adagio looks at the two and shoots them a look to keep them calm before turning around. As she suspected, it was the girl from the Rainbooms who's attention was thankfully on Levin.

"Actually, yes. We're looking for clothes that aren't too expensive."

"I see. Are you going to a party or just want to wear some casual clothing?" The girl tried to narrow down their opinions.

"Just casual is fine, along with some winter attire as well." Levin clarifies.

"I see. Don't worry, I already have a couple of ideas in mind." The employee was confident in that.

"Much appreciated, miss..." Levin held the last word to learn her name.

"Rarity, darling. And you're welcome." After saying that, she went off to get clothes for them.

The girls let out a breath that they unknowingly held in, looking at each other as Visor spoke. "Interesting. I remember seeing her at the Carousel Boutique."

"Your mom took photos there too?" Shade guessed.

"How did you know?" Visor then did a little fake gasp, "You're psychic!"

Levin chuckled a bit at that as he turns around, noticing the girls were not there. "Where did they go?"

The other two turn to see what he meant, looking around as Shade spoke. "Over there."

Turns out, the girls were hiding behind mannequins that had on dresses. They would have blended in well if they didn't recognize their hair.

"Girls?" Levin called out as the guys walk on over to them, "Why are you hiding?"

"...Why aren't YOU hiding?" Sonata was the first to speak, tossing his question back at them.

"Because we don't need to." Shade simply stated.

"Plus, it would look weird if guys are shopping for girl clothes." Visor added.

"That too." Shade agreed with that.

During that exchange, Adagio was thinking of some way to avoid contact with Rarity, only for it to be dashed as her voice was heard.

"I pulled out a few that I know would look great on you." The guys turn towards the voice to see her walking over with a mobile hanger that had clothes more suited to the guys.

"Thanks, but we were thinking of stuff for them." Levin gestured to the mannequins, which confused the employee.

Levin noticed her confusion and realized his mistake, sighing as he then walks up and goes around the statues. What Rarity didn't expect was him pulling out three girls she recognized as he brought them over.

"Sorry, I mean them." Levin gestures to the girls, who looked as though they saw a ghost.

Rarity saw their expressions and connected the dots, "Well, that explains a bit. Was there anything you three had in mind?"

Adagio was the first to recover from their fright, "N-not really. Just looking for more to wear besides these."

"Give me just a moment." She then went off to get clothes for them.

The girls recover from their shock as the guys look at the hanger Rarity brought over earlier, "What just happened?" Aria was still processing what has transpired.

"Pity, that's what." Adagio answered with a hint of annoyance.

"Really? I thought she was doing her job." Sonata pointed out the obvious.

"Did you see her face? She thought about telling them about us." Adagio brought up, "She didn't do it cause she felt bad for us, end of story."

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it." Aria had a point.

"...Not yet." The two caught a smirk on Adagio's face briefly before hearing Rarity walk over, "She wants to play nice, we can too."

"Here you are. I remember what you wore before and pictured what they would be in casual form." Rarity summarized what she had on the second mobile hanger for them.

Sonata was the first one to search through the clothes with a smile on her face as Adagio and Aria walks over to it, "We appreciate your help, Rarity. It's nice to see some kindness every now and again." Adagio told her with her 'kind' voice.

"No problem at all, darling. Despite our differences, I can't turn a blind eye at helping others." Rarity was honest about that.

The group spend most of their time looking through various clothes before deciding on what they wanted. In total, they spent a little more than Levin expected, but it didn't bother him that much. Once they got their new clothes, Rarity watched them leave before she went on break. With the free time, she pulled out her phone and texted her friends in a group chat.

_R: You won't believe who entered the store earlier._

_RD: Unless it's Daring Do, I don't care._

_AJ: No need to dismiss her like that. Who did you meet?_

_R: The Dazzlings._

_PP: What!? You mean THOSE Dazzlings!?_

_F: You mean those meanies from the musical showcase?_

_SS: I'm more curious as to why they were at your store._

_R: They were shopping for more clothes with these boys I haven't seen before._

_RD: Guys? Like, their boyfriends or something?_

_R: I highly doubt it, they acted more like friends._

_PP: Wow, looks like there is more to them than we thought._

_AJ: Something about that doesn't seem right._

_SS: I got that feeling too. Last time we saw them, they were for a lack of a better term, villains._

_RD: They could be playing nice, for all we know._

_R: No need to jump to conclusions. I only brought this to your attention to avoid any unnecessary confrontations._

_SS: Thanks for the heads up. Right now, let's all agree to get along with them for now._

_F: Well, if Sunset can change, why not the Dazzlings too?_

_RD: All right, I'll play nice._

_AJ: No need to worry, sugarcube._

_PP: Yay, new friends!_

_R: Thanks for understanding._

_SS: Almost forgot, who are the guys?_

_R: Their names are Levin, Shade, and Visor._

_SS: Wait, Shade? I met someone with the same name earlier._

_AJ: Maybe it's a coincidence?_

_RD: Or is there some grand plan?_

_SS: Rainbow..._

_RD: Just saying._

_R: They don't have their powers anymore, so no hypnotic singing._

_RD: Good point._

_F: So the boys are safe from that._

_AJ: Whatever happens, we can handle it._

Rarity looked at the messages as she was in thought. Fluttershy did have a point about them changing, since Sunset was in a similar position before, but the others' suspicions makes sense. Without hard evidence, they aren't sure what the girls are up to. Right now, they just have to deal with them if they have to.

**And done! Well, that wasn't long, huh? The Dazzlings are back on the Rainbooms' radar, despite the lack of magic. Still, they have proven their intelligence with their plans against them. Either way, looks like the boys are unknowingly in a match of... friendliness? What will happen next? See ya next chapter!**


	4. C3: Familiar Faces

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome, welcome! Let's see what we got today:**

**johannvanguard: Yeah, one of the things I want right is having the elements in the Rainbooms' personalities. Rarity wouldn't just ignore them just because of the past, unlike how other people would write it. That is also another thing I added since she would do that, which has the others on alert and willing to give them a second chance. The wonders continue along the story, my friend.**

**Calvin: Much appreciated, man! Considering what happens in the actual series, I wouldn't put it past them. Then let us go onward!**

**Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's continue!**

**Chapter 3: Familiar Faces**

A sporting goods employee sighs a bit as she put her phone away, thinking over what her friends just discussed. She was a bit surprised that the Dazzlings showed up again after the musical showcase, but it was what Rarity mentioned that had her thinking. Since they don't have magic anymore, did that alter their personalities too? And who were the boys she mentioned?

Not wanting to hurt her head from thinking, she decided to take her mind off of that for now by playing with one of the soccer balls nearby. Not only was it a good distraction, but it helps keeps her skills sharp as ever. A slow day it was, so she didn't have any customers at the moment to deal with as she jogs across the open area while seamlessly moving the ball between her feet.

Meanwhile, the group were walking through the mall when Levin realized something.

"Oh shoot, we forgot shoes!"

"Really? I just got these." Visor mentioned.

"No, I mean for them." Levin clarified, gesturing to the girls.

He wasn't wrong, their shoes looked pretty dirty and even a little bit torn near where the toes are.

The girls noticed this as well, "Finally, I was about to mention my feet hurting." Sonata lets out a sigh of relief as she said that.

"Yeah, those aren't gonna protect you from the snow." Shade was correct about that.

"Oh hey, I know that place." Visor pointed to a nearby sporting goods store that has shoe boxes stacked near the entrance, "That has pretty good shoes."

"Well, let's go." Levin lead the way as the group headed on over.

As they entered the store and walks around the big stack, they see a female employee playing with one of the soccer balls. The girls recognized her too as the guitarist of the band, her long hair colored like a rainbow tied in a ponytail and light cerulean skin made her stand out as she wore her uniform. They heard her talk to herself like she was in a game.

"Rainbow Dash crisscrosses past another opposing player and aims for the goal! She shoots-" The employee then delivers a strong kick that made the ball fly towards a goal net nearby.

However, the ball bounces off the pole just above the net and sent it flying towards the group, specifically Visor as he quickly reacts to it. Tossing the clothes he bought towards the guys, he then spins to build momentum before jumping up to do a overhead kick maneuver, hitting the ball back. The employee watches the ball as it bounces off the ground and goes past the net.

"Shoot! Almost had it!" Visor was visibly annoyed at that as he got back up to his feet.

"That kick wasn't half bad." The others heard the employee say, her moderate cerise eyes looking at them.

"Oh, thank you." Visor then stops himself as he sees the employee, "Hey, Rainbow Dash."

The employee looks at him with a look of confusion, "Uh, do I know you?"

"You helped me pick these out last week." Visor pointed to his shoes to emphasize his point.

Rainbow studies him for a second before having an annoyed look, "Wait... were you the one that asked about getting the best boots too?"

"Yeah..." Visor sheepishly smiles at that.

"He does hate the cold." Levin pointed out to make fun of him, which Visor simply rolls his eyes at.

"So, what brings you back here?" Rainbow asked before noticing the Dazzlings behind them.

She tried her best not to make a face that screams 'Not you again' as the girls simply waved back at her.

"These ladies really need a new pair of shoes." Shade cut to the chase with his answer.

"And some boots too." Levin added, which Visor sighs at.

Rainbow looks at the Dazzlings' shoes to see why, only to be shocked at their condition. "Eh..."

"Yes, thank you for the obvious." Aria sarcastically said, which Adagio bumps her elbow at her arm for that.

"Let's go browse." Visor walks on to one of the aisles to get a head start.

"Yo! Hold up!" Levin quickly went after him with Shade following soon after.

Before the Dazzlings walks in their direction, Rainbow spoke up. "Haven't see you three in a while."

Adagio was the first to respond back, "We were... having issues. Right now, we're just trying to get back on our feet."

"It... didn't have to do with us, did it?" Rainbow's question was answered by a simple stern stare from the three, "Oh. Sorry."

Adagio then got an idea, "But, what you did really opened our eyes."

"What?" Both Aria and Sonata were confused at what she said.

"It did?" Rainbow was just as confused.

"Why, yes. You showed us that a genuine bond between others is more powerful than by force." Adagio then gestures to the boys, "As you can tell, I think we're off to a good start."

Rainbow was now getting the picture, "Oh! I get it now. Good for you!"

Aria and Sonata got the picture as well, smiling at what Adagio meant as she continued. "We also want to apologize for all the trouble we caused."

"You learned your lesson, that's enough for me." Rainbow shrugged off, "Tell ya what, I'll even give you a discount for today."

"Yay, free shoes!" Sonata jumped up and down at that while Aria simply rolled her eyes at her.

"Hey, girls!" The four turn towards the voice that called out, who was Visor. "Kinda forgot that we don't know your size!"

The girls couldn't help but let out a small giggle before they heard another voice, who was Levin. "But, I think we got your colors down!"

The rest of their shoe shopping went about pretty well with Shade and Visor only trying on a couple of pairs while they waited for the girls. However, Rainbow still had a strange feeling and talked with Levin while the Dazzlings were out of earshot with a couple of questions.

"So, how did you guys meet them?" She didn't want to waste any time.

"The girls? Why do you ask?" Levin was a bit confused on what she meant.

"Like, did they try to sing to you in any way?" Her question only added to his confusion.

"Uh, no? Are they singers?"

"They were." Rainbow simply said as his response debunks one of her suspicions.

However, Levin was piecing together what she said. "Do you have some history with them?"

"Kind of." Rainbow vaguely answered since she wasn't sure if they knew who the Dazzlings really were.

Levin was conflicted about this. It seems like she knows who the girls are, but he's not one to pry into personal lives.

"Whatever it is, they're still my friends. I'd appreciate it if you don't talk bad about them." Levin warned her.

"I'm just saying, it's good to see them making friends for once." After saying that, Rainbow assumed that was the end of their conversation.

After that and making their purchases, the group left before Rainbow went back on her phone.

_RD: So, they came to the store to get shoes._

_R: They didn't ask for any from me._

_PP: Maybe they're into sports?_

_RD: That Visor guy was, but they were more focused on the Dazzlings. Their shoes were terrible._

_SS: Did you manage to get any new info?_

_RD: Well, I talked with Adagio about what happened to them. I'm guessing because we ruined their plans, they had a hard time getting back on their feet. I also asked Levin if they sang when they met, which he denies._

_F: I feel bad for them now._

_AJ: Well, they have to go without their powers now, but I didn't think it would be that bad._

_RD: Adagio also said that they learned their lesson and were sorry about before. However, it doesn't seem like the guys know who the Dazzlings really are._

_R: So, the boys are actual friends to them. That's great!_

_SS: I still wonder on how they met, but it's nice to hear it wasn't by force. Though, I hope they don't change their opinions when they do learn the truth._

_F: If they are friends, then the girls are in good hands._

Rainbow looked at the last message as her mind went back to Levin. He did sound like he meant it when he thought she was talking bad about the girls, but they are in for quite the surprise when the time comes.

* * *

"So, we have gotten the clothes and the shoes. Is there anything else we're missing?" Levin looks at the group when he asks this.

"Something to drink. I'm getting a bit thirsty." Visor admits.

"Same. You're thinking... smoothies?" Shade agrees with him.

Visor reeled back his head a bit in surprise, "OK, that's just weird."

"Ooo, smoothies. Those sound good." Sonata was excited about that.

Visor puts his arm around Sonata after hearing this, "Indeed they are, miss. Quickly, to the smoothie kiosk!"

Visor lead the way this time as the group headed to the one he had in mind, which was back at the food court with an orange cup above the counter with a curly straw. For the third time today, the girls recognized yet another Rainboom member working there.

The employee they saw had pale light gamboge skin, long pale light olive hair, and moderate sap green eyes as she wore her uniform. This time, Adagio stopped in her tracks before speaking. "How about you three go on ahead? I want to talk with the girls in private."

"Oh, sure. Have anything in particular?" Visor was okay with it, but Shade and Levin were wondering why.

"No, I'm sure what you get is fine." Adagio simply said.

The guys went ahead to the smoothie place as she brought the two closer, "OK, is anyone else finding this a coincidence?"

"You mean how every place has one of the girls that ruined our lives?" Aria was blunt in answering her question.

"I think they are familiar with the others too. I don't know how, but it seems like it." Adagio concluded.

"Oh, come on! If they did know each other, why don't they?" Sonata spoke up, denying what she just said.

"They could be acting to make us think that. I mean, we've been doing that so far anyways." Aria countered her words.

"Probably to make us feel welcomed into their group. Rainbow might have wanted to make sure we've changed." Adagio chuckled to herself upon making this realization, "Well, the game is officially on now."

"It's just the Rainbooms that we want to get back, right?" Sonata immediately got the attention of the two at saying that, "Maybe the boys don't know what happened between us."

"How naive you are, Sonata. Like I said, this isn't a coincidence. Keep your eyes open." Adagio was firm with her words, ending the conversation.

During the entire exchange, the boys were walking on over to the kiosk and were glad that the line was non-existent as the employee saw them.

"Hi there! How can I help ya?" She kindly greeted them.

"We would like six of your smoothies, miss. Two strawberries, two blueberries, and two pineapples." Visor ordered for the group.

"Alrighty then! Be ready in a few!" The employee then went right to work with the blenders as she puts the ingredients inside, "You boys must be pretty thirsty."

"Actually, the other three are for them." Levin pointed to the Dazzlings who were talking among themselves.

Shade notices the change in her facial expression as she sees the girls, "Ah, that makes more sense."

Levin then felt a hand tap against his shoulder, getting his attention as Shade spoke. "She knows them."

"You mean, like the other two employees?" Levin elaborated on what he meant.

"Yeah. For a bunch of homeless girls, they seem to get around." Shade was understandably suspicious about this.

"Maybe they saw them around town." Visor pointed out.

"It doesn't sound like that. Maybe they used to be friends." Levin pinched to them.

"So, they had a big argument and broke connection?" Shade guessed.

"And now they feel bad about it?" Visor added.

"Let's not jump to conclusions." Levin stopped their thoughts from going, "We need evidence to prove your theory."

"Ah yes, just like your magic theory." Shade jabbed at him.

"Exactly. Right now, let's just get our smoothies." Levin simply said.

Right after he did, the blenders turned on to mix up the smoothies they ordered. Shade found that weird, but maybe she didn't want to be rude? After about a minute, the blenders stopped completely as she then pours the mixes into the cups.

"You're not exactly wrong." Turns out the employee was listening in a bit on their conversation, which Visor called her out on it. "Not nice to eavesdrop, miss."

"I know, but I wanted to see what kind of boys you were." The employee admits.

"You sound like my mom." Visor muttered, remembering her meeting with the guys for the first time when she said that.

"How do you know them?" Shade was direct with his question.

"Uh... well, we did have a big argument. We didn't accept the way they tried to force others into liking them, but they were pretty persistent on it." The employee explained to them.

"And eventually, you guys stopped talking." Levin concluded for her.

"Yeah." She simply said.

"Oh, name's Levin. This is Shade and Visor." He greeted themselves to her.

"Pleasure to meet you, name's Applejack." The employee returned the gesture, who then remembers the smoothies. "Oh, shoot! Almost forgot about these."

She then handed them their order, "Here you are. Two strawberries, two blueberries and two pineapples."

"Right on the mark, thanks." Visor confirmed for her.

"Quick question. Do you know someone named Rainbow Dash or Rarity by chance?" Levin asked as he took one of the blueberry smoothies.

"Yup! They're my best friends, in fact." Applejack answered proudly.

"That explains quite a bit, actually." Shade pointed out.

"Any other friends you have?" Visor wondered.

"There's Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset Shimmer." The last name she listed got Shade's attention, "I met Sunset earlier today."

"So that's what you were doing." Levin remembered him being vague when he texted him.

"Then you'll meet the rest soon enough. Don't worry, we don't bite." Applejack joked.

"We'll keep that in mind. Nice meeting you." Levin said before taking a sip of his smoothie.

As the boys went back to the Dazzlings, Applejack went on her phone to text her friends.

_AJ: Lucky number three over here._

_SS: Anything on your end?_

_AJ: Well, the boys are pretty nice to talk to. They had a good heart about them._

_R: I got that impression, too._

_RD: The Levin guy seems to be the leader of the three, by the way they talk to each other._

_AJ: However, what caught my attention was this magic theory one of them mentioned._

_SS: Magic theory?_

_PP: Maybe they're talking about our magic._

_RD: Well, we're not subtle about using them._

_PP: Yup, we shoot out rainbows and stuff!_

_R: Or they might be talking about something else, like being magicians or something._

_AJ: Whatever it is, at least the Dazzlings have good guys watching them._

**And done! Honestly, I had a bit of a difficult time with this one. I wanted the two groups to meet, but still have that tension remain between them without the truth coming out. Meeting Rainbow Dash was a little easier, since she would still be on edge after the Battle of the Bands. As for Applejack, I had to figure out how she would talk to the guys without being too honest. Hopefully, I did a good job.**

**So, thanks for reading, I'll see you next chapter!**


	5. C4: A Cold Dream

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back. Let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: Awesome, I did good. Well, Shade already met Sunset, but the rest is up to chance. Glad to hear it, let us continue.**

**Thanks for the feedback! Now, let's continue.**

**Chapter 4: A Cold Dream**

The rest of their day went on by without any more unexpected surprises for the girls as the sun started to set in the sky. After leaving the mall, Shade and Visor headed back to their homes as Levin walked the girls back to his. To their surprise, they saw clouds in the sky that started to lightly drop snow down below. It was very small, but the drop in temperature was still noticeable.

Not fully clothed for the change in weather, the four hurried on to the house and quickly went inside to stay warm. Locking the door behind him, Levin lets out a sigh as he rubs his arms a bit.

"Last time I listen to the weatherman." He muttered to himself as he walks to the living room.

He sees the girls sit down on the couch as they took off their new shoes, which they wore when they left the sports store.

"Feels nice to finally have comfortable footwear on my feet for once." Adagio commented.

"I think mine are numb..." Aria wasn't really kidding as he rubs her feet a bit.

Levin overheard her complaint as he walks over, "Feel free to use the recliner if you want."

Aria then smirked as she quickly hopped up and lightly leaped into said recliner, pulling the lever all the way to lay back and relax.

"Ah, much better..." Aria puts her hands behind her head as she mumbled that.

"Lucky." Sonata was a bit jealous about that.

"Yeah, she was waiting for it." Levin chuckled a bit at that as he picked up the remote to the TV, "I wonder what's on today."

Turning it on, he surfed through the channels until stopping on a certain show. "Oh cool, the Power Ponies."

"Power Ponies?" Adagio was confused as the characters were human, not ponies.

"It's an odd name, but I guess it rolls off the tongue better than Power... Humans or something." Levin explains as he sat down in the middle.

"I like the small one, he's cute." Sonata pointed at the boy in the group as he spoke with the rest of the team.

"Oh, Hum-Drum? He's my favorite, actually. He has no powers, yet is still willing to help. That and he keeps the team together." Levin shares his opinion about the character.

"Sounds like you're a fan of the show." Adagio wasn't wrong about that.

"Not as much as Shade. Dude was a fan since it first aired." He then sighs, "Made me binge watch the first season when he found out I didn't watch it."

The TV now showed the team fighting against the villain of the episode, who was-

"That's his favorite villain, Mane-iac Mayhem. After a horrible accident, her appearance took a drastic change and lost her sanity. Now, she tries to cause destruction throughout Maretropolis. Simple, yet effective." Levin summarized for the girls.

"Why is her hair like that?" Sonata watched as the villain's hair was moving on its own, attacking the heroes.

"That's her superpower. She can use it kinda like an octopus." Levin gave the short answer this time.

The villain was now stealing what looked to be a red gem as her henchmen were holding off the heroes, making Adagio raise an eyebrow. "What is she stealing?"

"I think that's the... what was it called?" Levin thought about it for a moment, "If I remember correctly, she's gonna use that to power a device that can be capable of hypnotizing the city."

The silence that followed soon after stayed for a bit, which Levin didn't notice until the show went into the commercials. The first one had Levin on the edge of his seat as he stared intently at a duel between two fighters.

"It's coming out tomorrow, yes!" Levin mostly mutters to himself while the girls are obviously confused.

It then cuts to various other characters fighting against each other, showing off their skills and combos in a rapid pace. The three got more and more curious as the fighters had special elemental powers combining with their fighting styles that complimented each other very well.

"This game is called 'Lethal Forces', where you can play as characters that can control all kinds of powers." Levin begins to summarize for clarification.

"I can tell. The way they fight each other like that, it's so brutal." Adagio admits that she likes the visuals of the combat.

"I know, right? I really like playing the speedy types, honestly. Can't hit what you can't catch." He agrees while adding his preference of characters.

The trailer then shows a mysterious cloaked figure with a body similar to a ghost facing off against the main character who charges up his lightning before the duel begins, which is where it ends before showing the title and release date of tomorrow.

"Who was that guy?" Aria wondered, more likely towards the ghost.

"The villain is named Eon, who was a man who lost his body when traveling through time. Now, he tries to find a suitable vessel to live in by setting up the tournament for the cast to fight in." Levin gives the basic summary of the character that he knows.

"And what about the lightning guy?" Sonata asks him soon after.

"He's kinda the main protagonist who is named Lance. He's straightforward and honest, as a usual do-gooder is. I still like him, lightning is my favorite of the elements and he's the speedster of the cast." He answers with similar detail.

"Wait, if the cast has elemental powers, what about Eon's power?" Adagio notices that detail he missed.

"Oh, he can control time to a small extent like speeding himself up or slowing his opponent down for a short period of time. It's pretty cool to see." He realizes his mistake and gladly answers for them.

After the commercials ended, it returned to Power Ponies as Levin got up from his seat. "I was thinking of popping some popcorn, anyone want any?"

The girls didn't really have anything else to do, so they just shrugged their shoulders as their response. "I'll take that as a yes." He simply said as he went to the kitchen.

After getting the popcorn and returning to his seat on the couch, the four just watched the following episodes of Power Ponies that was conveniently the beginning of the first season. They did have questions about either the characters or what was happening, which Levin tried his best to answer to the best of his knowledge and memory. He was glad that they were interested in something he liked too, allowing a new connection between them.

By the time the little marathon ended, Levin had thrown away the empty popcorn bag when he walks back to the couch. Adagio already went to bed in the middle of it, guessing that she didn't want to sleep on the couch in an awkward position. Aria, on the other hand, fell asleep in the recliner as the third episode ended with Sonata yawning as the next show came on.

"Thinking of heading upstairs, too?" He questioned her.

"...Too tired... I'll just sleep... here..." Sonata then laid herself out before putting her head on the pillow by her.

Levin smiled a bit before taking the blanket that was on the back of the sofa, putting it over Sonata as she fell asleep. Remembering Aria, he then takes another blanket that was hanging off the recliner and puts it over her. With the two girls comfortable, he then goes upstairs to take a shower.

* * *

_A bright light blinded her for a moment before fading, a familiar breaking sound ringing in her ears as she sees her red gem shattered on the ground. Blinking a couple of times to adjust her vision, she sees that it was the amphitheater from the Battle of the Bands._

_"Why am I... back here?" Sonata was completely confused at what was happening._

_She looked on to see the crowd of students from Canterlot High behind the Rainbooms, who were standing in front of them with a neutral expression._

_"Come to rub in your victory?" Sonata turns her head to the right to see Adagio and Aria on the ground with her._

_"As much as I personally would, that's not why we're here." Rainbow's voice got their attention._

_Looking at the band before them, the seven started to glow their respective colors that immediately had memories flooding back into Sonata's mind._

_"Everything you have done, will not go unpunished." Twilight declared._

_"Wait, wait, wait! You gave Sunset a second chance!" Aria had a good point._

_"Yeah! If anything, you should let Sunset decide!" Sonata agreed with her._

_The other six looked at each other before having a smirk, "OK, girls. I think we can allow them this." Twilight told them._

_Sunset was standing in the middle of the group as they look at her, "Tell us, Sunset. What should their punishment be?"_

_The Dazzlings looked at their last glimmer of hope as Sunset looked at them, but something was off. Instead of her cyan eyes, they were vivid crimson like her hair._

_"I'm just not sure. A simple apology for all of this isn't enough." Her tone wasn't as friendly as they hoped, "They should feel the pain that they caused."_

_"How so?" Twilight then had her eyes changed to the same color as Sunset's, making the Dazzlings' hearts drop._

_"Don't worry, we'll give you a five-second head start." The crimson color then appeared in the rest of the band's eyes._

_Next thing they knew, the Rainbooms transformed into warped versions of their pony forms, appearing more monstrous than what they actually were before. The seven place their hands in front of themselves as Sunset started the countdown. Utterly terrified, the Dazzlings got up and ran away from them as fast as they could._

_Five..._

_Four..._

_Three..._

_Two..._

_One..._

_From the orbs that emitted from their palms, they fired a beam into each other before forming a rainbow vortex, pulling everything in its surrounding area into it. Grabbing onto the nearest object that was thankfully held down to the floor, Adagio and Aria were on one with Sonata being a little further up. Looking back at the vortex, it was growing larger with each object it sucks in with its power climbing more and more._

_"Sonata!" Hearing her name, she turn her head to see Adagio and Aria reaching their hands out to her._

_Holding on tightly to her anchor, she reached out to them in order to help. Unfortunately, they were just out of reach as the vortex grew bigger behind them, the floor breaking apart as the curtains were torn off from above. The objects they were holding on to were now bending to the vacuum as their reach was now impossible to connect now._

_"Nononononono!" As much as she wanted to, Sonata couldn't stretch any further towards the two before their anchor snapped in half, forcing her eyes to see her sisters disappearing into the vortex._

_Now completely alone, she held on tightly to her anchor as her heart started to slow itself. Their enemies wanting them gone, her sisters not there to support her, and now on the doorstep to oblivion, she broke down and let her tears flow down her face._

_"Why... why..." Her voice trembled as she muttered to herself._

_"Sonata..."_

_Her name quietly echoed, though she didn't notice as her anchor started to bend more and more._

_"Sonata..."_

_Her name echoed slightly louder than before, only to go unnoticed as the anchor torn away until breaking entirely._

_"Sonata!"_

* * *

Waking up in a cold sweat and her eyes barely seeing through the darkness around her, Sonata stares straight up at the ceiling before her body registered a hand on her shoulder. Her vision adjusting more to the dark, she sees a figure looking down at her.

"Sonata, you all right?" Her ears recognized Levin's voice before realizing the one from her dream near the end sounded just like his. He must have noticed her having a nightmare when he came back down here.

She kept quiet though, not really sure on what to say to him as his hand moved to her face.

"Tears? What did you dream about?" His voice was concerned, as it should be.

Finally gaining back control of her body, she sat up and wraps her arms around him in an instant. Her face buried in his chest as he then finds herself whimpering, letting more of her tears fall on his shirt as his arms returned the embrace.

After what felt like hours, she got her crying under control as Levin simply sat in silence before she spoke.

"W-what are... you doing down here?" She sniffed a bit in between her words as she asked that.

"I just remembered I left the TV on when I heard you talking in your sleep." He briefly explained.

"O-Oh... sorry." She averted her eyes away from him as she apologizes.

"Don't be. Here, I'll get you something to drink." He offered.

He then escorted her to the kitchen and lets her sit down at one of the chairs as he opened the fridge door. With a source of light, he turns on the hanging lamp over the table to have one stay on for the two. Seeing him better now, he had his hair down as he wore a black long-sleeved shirt and dark blue sweatpants. After pulling out two small plastic cups, he then fills them with a small amount of water before walking over.

Sonata looked down at the cup he placed in front of her before he sat down across the table. The two find themselves in silence as Levin took a sip of his water before speaking.

"So..." He wasn't exactly sure on what to do here. When he had nightmares, he usually either plays a game or continue his research until he falls back asleep.

He tried to think of something to distract her from her dream when he heard her voice, "You're not spiky."

He looked at her in confusion from the comment she made before looking at the strands of hair hanging around his eyes, "Oh. It's usually like this when I go to bed."

"I like it spiky." She simply said before taking a sip of her water.

"Same." He agrees with her on that, "I'm surprised that you can sleep with your ponytail."

She looked at him with a curious look before feeling her hair, "Oh, yeah. I'm so used to it, I barely even notice."

"I tried sleeping with my hair spiked up once. Turns out the gel I was using back then was... pretty sticky." Levin remembered waking up that day with his pillow stuck to his hair, "I was late to school that day."

Sonata now had the image in her head, making her giggle a bit as she wiped the dried tears from her eyes. Levin smiled at her own as he took another sip of water, putting the glass down on the table.

"Did anyone else see that?" She now had an image of Shade and Visor seeing that, laughing at him as he rolled his eyes.

"Thankfully, no. But, my friends did notice that my hair was... a little bit uneven." Levin clarified.

Sonata had to cover her mouth to prevent a small burst of laughter from being too loud, since it's late at night and the other girls are sleeping. Her laughter was contagious as Levin couldn't help but chuckle at his bad day too.

She caught her breath as she remembered a funny moment from back then, "This one time when we were here for about a month, Adagio locked herself in her room for almost a week because she got a zit right on the tip of her nose."

"That's the worst place to get one..." Levin can sympathize with that.

"She cursed this world for 'ruining her best quality'." Sonata did a little impression of her sister at the end, which she then looks around briefly before looking back at him. "She doesn't really like it when we do that."

"I would honestly be a bit flattered if my... sibling did that." His voice got a little lower near the end, catching her attention.

"Do you have any siblings of your own?" Sonata's question made him freeze for a moment before averting his eyes.

"No... my family was just me, my dad and-" He pauses for a second before continuing, "Well, I remember playing with my cousins a lot when I was a kid."

"What was that like?" She was now curious on this new info.

"Well, I was pretty competitive with the older one named Stylite. It was either how high can we climb a tall tree or how many cookies we can eat, we always try to one up each other. Last time I check, we were tied on the total amount of wins. The younger one was Pixel. He was a good kid, though he was a bit on the quiet side. Though, it's because of him that I was introduced to gaming. Dude was insanely good at whatever game he got, I was always enamored when he played."

Sonata listened throughout, glad to hear him speak so fondly of his memories before finding herself letting a small yawn.

"Oh come on. I'm not that boring, am I?" Levin was joking, knowing that it was getting really late now.

"No... just getting tired again." Sonata then drank the rest of her water before passing her empty cup to him, "Thanks, by the way."

Levin drank the rest of his water before sitting up, taking the two cups with him. "Sure thing."

Sonata sat up soon after as he places the cups on the counter, casually turning back around with a yawn with his own. "Good night, Sonata."

"Actually, um..." Levin stopped in his tracks to listen, "C-Can you stay down here with me tonight?"

Her request didn't really come out of nowhere, but he wasn't really expecting it either. Though, he was able to deduce why.

"Afraid of another one?" He was direct with his guess, which was answered with a simple nod from her.

After turning off the remaining light and carefully walking through the dark back to the couch, the two laid down on opposite ends with their heads on the pillows leaning against the armrests of the sofa. Thankfully, it was comfortable enough for a nice little nap as the two said their good nights before drifting off to sleep.

**And done! Wow, a pretty lengthy one this time. This one was a little bit on the fly, as it's more of just the four hanging around chilling until the dream sequence. I hope I did all right with the nightmare part, as those sequences are more lenient on how characters are portrayed, which can be jarring to me at times. The interaction after is honestly something I'm proud of. I didn't want it to come off as romantic, but just a moment of comfort to someone in need.**

**Edit: I realized now that the 'Fallen Angels' commercial was a bit out of place for this world, so I replaced it with 'Lethal Forces' for a better substitute. Since I did a small segment in my Persona EG series about the cast playing a fighting game, I figure to make the game for this story the same genre as well. Hope it fits better than the previous one.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and see ya next chapter!**


	6. C5: Winter's Arrival

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome, welcome. Let's see what we got now:**

**johannvanguard: Awesome, I'm glad it worked out. Time will tell, my friend.**

**Maelaeran: Wait, how so? They're just watching TV. I'm just a bit confused since I don't get that feeling. Though, I am glad you liked the second half, I'm personally proud of that.**

**Thanks for the feedback, people! Now, let's get going.**

**Chapter 5: Winter's Arrival**

The smell of food was enough for Shade to stir from his slumber, opening his eyes little by little as he pushes himself up a bit with his elbows. The sun was starting to rise a bit over the horizon outside his window, revealing a thin blanket of snow that built up overnight as he sees it with a surprised look.

"Already? Mother Nature's weird sometimes." He said to himself as he started to get out of bed.

Moving the covers away, revealing his nighttime attire of a white long-sleeved shirt and black sweatpants, he puts his feet on the ground that was covered by a bunch of stray clothes he had over the week throughout his bedroom, since he would just use a bunch of random combinations after school for casual wear.

"I should probably clean up soon..." Despite his words, he isn't really motivated today to do just that.

After looking through his small closet changing out of his nighttime attire, he now has on a navy blue long-sleeved shirt and green cargo pants before exiting his room. He was used to the apartment by now, as it was decent to live in. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room and a kitchen was all they needed to have a roof over their head. Walking to said kitchen to sit at one of the stools as he saw his aunt cooking breakfast, he couldn't help but smirk a bit at her whistling a little tune to herself.

She had pale light amber skin, lime green hair that reaches her ears and rose pink eyes as she wore a gold long-sleeved shirt and navy blue pants.

"Morning, Aunt Candid." His voice surprised her a bit as she turned around from the pan.

"Oh, hey. Didn't hear you there." She quickly turned back around to make sure the eggs didn't burn, "Though, I should have expected you to wake up when I cook something."

"I'm not one to miss the important meal of the day." He was telling the truth. Thanks to his aunt, he always had a meal ready before heading to school.

"I know, I know. Scrambled as usual, right?" She always asks, just in case he was thinking of something else.

"Yes, please." He then notices that the other pan had bacon, "Ooo, bacon too? You spoil me."

She chuckled a bit at his remark, "I just know what you like."

She then pours the scrambled eggs onto a plate, avoiding the sizzling from the bacon that will hurt her skin as she then put her sunny side-up ones on her own plate before moving on to the bacon. Once they were evenly distributed, she makes sure to turn the burners off before giving his plate to him.

"You're in a good mood today." Usually, Shade would have only a few words to say before eating. "Anything new?"

"Uh, not really. School's all right, that new game I've told you about is out, and my friends are still on that 'magic hunt'." Shade lists down what came to his head, "So, I've had a pretty good week."

"Well, I know that you and your friends went to the mall yesterday." She recalls as she moved her plate to the island counter between them before going to get two cups for orange juice.

Shade nibbled on one of his bacon strips as he was remembering what had occurred, "Me and Visor met these new friends that showed up at his house two nights ago. They were pretty nice girls, all things considered."

"What were their names?" Candid was now curious about the new faces, closing the fridge door before going to pour the juice in the cups.

"Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. The first one seems to be the leader, the second one is pretty reserved and the third one comes off as excitable." He stated his honest opinion to her as his aunt puts the juice away.

"I see. Well, as long as they don't cause too much trouble, I'm all right with it." She nonchalantly said to him, moving his cup to his side before taking a sip out of her own.

It wasn't until now that she noticed that he was still nibbling on the same strip of bacon during that exchange, now looking as though he was staring into space. More curious on what he left out, she addressed it directly.

"Did you meet anyone else while you were there?" She couldn't help but have a small smile on her face as he looks at her with the bacon strip in his mouth.

"A-Anyone else? No one comes to mind." His brief stutter was enough of a clue for her.

"Come on, you tell me." Despite her reassuring words, her now playful smirk was starting to show.

He then finally finishes his bacon strip before continuing, "Well... I-I may have saw someone else."

Right after he said that was when he saw her smirk on full display. "Shade. Were you thinking of that person just now?"

He averted his eyes away in response, "No..."

"I know that look. Who caught your eye this time?" She was now starting to lean in a bit as he rubbed the back of his head.

"J-Just another girl I'll probably see around town whenever. N-nothing to lose your head over." Again, his stutters betray him as his aunt was now getting a bit smug.

"You know, you usually have one stutter in your sentences when you have a girl on your mind." His eyes looked right back at her in surprise, "I counted four."

Finding it now impossible to just end the conversation, he sighs in defeat before speaking. "All right, all right. Just something about her that just... catches my attention."

"And her name is..." His aunt smiled at him as she had her hands under her chin.

"...Sunset Shimmer." Upon saying the name, she gave him a small round of applause.

"Hey, you got a name this time!" Her remark made him let out a small sigh as she then started on her eggs, "What's she like?"

He then finds himself drifting off as he recalls the encounter, "She was a bit cautious of me, which was understandable considering how I approached her. After that, she was actually really polite and even shared some of her food when I started getting a bit hungry."

"Aww, how sweet." She had a mouthful of eggs when she made that comment.

He smiled a bit at that before continuing, "I-I guess. Turns out that she is a pretty good cook, and even does volunteer work in her off-time. Though honestly, I think there's something else I'm missing..."

"Well, as you're figuring that out, eat up before your food gets cold." His aunt was right, he didn't touch his food beside that one strip of bacon.

After the two has had their meal, Shade finds himself getting dragged along on a walk through town on his aunt's curiosity on how much it snowed in town and maybe a bit of grocery shopping along the way. Though, he felt that something else was going on, but left that at the back of his mind as the two left the apartment.

They made sure they were properly dressed for the cold weather. Shade had his black beanie on his head as he added a brown bomber collared zipped-up jacket, red gloves and black boots as Candid put on a pair of black earmuffs over her ears, a green zipped-up parka jacket, black knitted gloves, and green boots.

* * *

Upon exiting the apartment complex, they notice that snow was now falling from the clouds above like a gentle breeze as the two started their walk. Even with the snow arriving sooner than expected, there wasn't much out of the ordinary as people were walking by in their winter clothes instead. This continued on for awhile until Shade decided that they should turn somewhere, leading to them making a right after reaching their seventh intersection.

A brief burst of wind blew through, signaling a change as they then heard a voice off in the distance.

"Oof! Ow..."

The two looked up ahead to see a girl rubbing her bum as she was sitting on the concrete. Curious as to what happened, they headed on over as her appearance became more clearer. She had pale olive skin with light magenta eyeshadow, long pale rose hair with a butterfly brooch, and opal colored eyes as she wore a pair of white earmuffs, a sky blue long-sleeved winter dress with the skirt reaching her knees and three pink butterflies on the left side of it, pink mittens, forest green pants, and pink boots.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you all right?" Candid was the first to reach her, crouching down as the girl backed away a bit.

"M-Me? Uh..." She seemed to be cautious of strangers, which Shade notices and decides to step in.

"What's your name? I'm Shade and this is my Aunt Candid." He introduces themselves to her to show friendliness.

Her face changed from nervous to recognition as she looks at Shade, "S-Shade?"

The two look at each other before looking back at her, "You know me?"

"I might-well, may know you." She was quick to backpedal, likely as to not assume right away.

"Either way, let's get you back on your feet." Candid wasn't wrong as they were outside in the cold. The girl was a tiny bit hesitant, but grabbed their hands in order for them to pull her up.

"Th-Thank you." The girl was grateful for their assistance, "I'm F-Fluttershy."

"Now it makes sense." He remembered the names of the friends they haven't met from Applejack.

"OK, how many girls have you met yesterday exactly?" His aunt was confused at this point.

Shade then decided to count his fingers for a second before answering, "Seven, if I'm not mistaken."

"And I'm guessing one of them is friends with her?" Candid gestures to Fluttershy as she said that, inclining the girl to clarify for her. "Yes, ma'am. In fact... he actually met four of my friends."

The surprise on his aunt's face was apparent as Shade chuckled a bit, "Make that five now."

"By the way, are you still hurt from your fall?" Candid figured that she would be, if even a little bit.

"Oh no, it's gone now. Thank you for asking." Fluttershy reassures her.

"Where were you going in this weather?" Shade doubted it was any outdoor activities at the moment.

"I was on my way to the animal shelter to make sure the animals are properly secure for the early winter." Fluttershy answered.

"Really? Maybe I can help." Candid offered, "I work as a school nurse, but I was thinking of getting some experience with animals."

"It would be nice to have a nurse around." Fluttershy gladly accepted her help.

"I don't see why not. Better than walking in the cold all day." Shade supported his aunt's offer.

* * *

The two followed Fluttershy to her destination, all the while asking her questions either about her friends or herself to pass the time.

"How long have you been volunteering for the shelter?" Candid asked.

"Hmm... I think I started officially two years ago. I wasn't old enough yet before, but I supported them however I can until I joined." Fluttershy recalled.

"A kind heart at a young age? That's nice to hear." Candid smiled at that, remembering how she wanted to be a nurse.

"What's it like to take care of the animals? Like, I imagine it's not a walk in the park." Shade was a bit curious on that.

"Well, my first few days were a tiny bit tough mainly because some of them are a bit cautious on strangers. Once you earn their trust, they're quite friendly." Fluttershy explains.

"What about the others? Did they have a similar experience?" Shade expected that her friends would visit every now and again.

"Kind of. Between them, I believe... Sunset had the hardest time." Fluttershy had the image of her getting a cut in her jacket from one of the cats on her first visit.

"Who had the easiest time?" Candid wanted to know the spectrum between them.

"Applejack. She lives at Sweet Apple Acres, so she works with animals all the time." Fluttershy answered instantly.

As the two talked with each other for a bit, Shade thought back on what she said. If Sunset had the hardest time, is it because she wasn't good with animals or-

_"OK, something is going on here. I have her on my mind ever since I met her, which my aunt thinks it's not a... casual encounter. Now, we have met most of her friends in less than two days. There's a bigger picture here..."_ He knew that the magic Levin saw may have started a chain reaction, but now it's really noticeable.

Returning back to reality, the three have arrived at the shelter as the snow seemed to have stopped falling upon them for now. Entering through the doors, they arrive at the foyer that then leads to various areas that contains all types of animals.

"Wow, you have more than I thought." Candid commented.

"Where would you like to start?" Fluttershy asked.

"Hmm..." Candid looked between all the doors before settling on the one with the furry animals, "I like petting furry animals."

"OK." The two were about to go in when Fluttershy noticed that Shade didn't move from the counter, "You coming, Shade?"

Shade seemed to be lost in thought again as he was looking up at the ceiling before hearing her voice, "Huh? Uh, you two go on ahead. I'll catch up."

The two were confused by this, but went along with it. "All right, we'll be in here in the meantime."

Once they went on their tour, Shade went back into putting the mental picture together as he sat down at one of the nearby chairs to rest.

* * *

Meanwhile, back out in the cold weather, Sunset Shimmer was walking down the street as she held a bag of food for some of the animals at the shelter. Earlier in the morning, she got a text from Fluttershy saying that she forgot to refill some of the supplies they use for the winter and was a bit low on money at the moment. Sunset gladly accepted to help since she didn't have anything planned for today along with wanting to help out a friend in need.

She didn't face the snow ill-prepared as she had on a pumpkin orange hooded coat with her signature red and yellow sun cutie mark on the back over a black sweater, red gloves, blue pants, and black boots with yellow laces.

Her hood was currently up to cover her head from the cool breeze as her mind was filled with thoughts. Between the return of the Dazzlings and their new friends, she found it a bit harder to focus on other tasks along with being distracted by the questions that raised.

"This isn't helping. We should find time to get together and meet with them personally." Sunset concluded to ease her mind for now.

Looking on ahead, she sees the shelter on the other side of the street. Making sure there were no cars by looking both ways, she did a small jog to reach the entrance and went into the building. Finding herself in the foyer to warm up, she puts the bag in an empty chair before putting down her hood.

"Fluttershy? I got the supplies." She called out, making sure her friend knew she was here.

"She's where the furry animals are." Another voice nearby told her.

"Thanks." As soon as she said that, Sunset realized that the voice sounded familiar.

Turning around, she had to blink twice to process what she was seeing. It must be a coincidence now, as the boy she met yesterday was sitting in the other chair next to the bag. He didn't notice her as he seemed to be lost in thought.

"Shade?" Calling his name, he turns to see her standing there.

"Sunset!?" Next thing she knew, he practically jumped out of his seat in surprise before recovering his composure. "Hey, hi. I was just thinking of you."

She finds herself feeling heat on her cheeks as she stared at him, "U-Uh, what?"

He closed his eyes while letting out a breath through his nose, "I just realized what I said. I meant, I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh OK. That makes sense." The heat from her cheeks left as she rubs the back of her neck, "What about?"

"Well, I'm not gonna lie when I say you peaked my curiosity. Kinda like a moth to a flame, to be precise." Shade started with the truth along with a small joke, which made her simply blink in response.

"And you want to know what makes me stand out from the others?" Sunset concluded for him.

"Yes." Shade agreed with her there, "Which is why I would like to learn more about you. In exchange, you can learn more about me."

"So... a normal conversation?" His blank face to her remark made her grow a smirk on her face.

"If you want to simplify it..." Shade averted his eyes away, feeling a bit embarrassed as that would have been easier to say.

Looking around the place for a moment, he then notices that the doors behind Sunset was opened by a small crack. Figuring out what that means, he walks on over to the doors and pulls it open, revealing his aunt and Fluttershy listening in on them.

"Hi..." Fluttershy waved a bit as Candid was frozen in place.

"Wanted a change in scenery?" Shade questioned, though he already knew what they were doing.

"W-We were about to go to the reptiles and didn't want to interrupt." His aunt explained.

"Couldn't go around?" Shade's question made her go silent, "Fluttershy, you mind if I talk to her in private?"

Fluttershy was quick in moving to the foyer and by Sunset in no time, allowing Shade and Candid room to speak in the room they were in. Closing the door behind him, he was a little bit annoyed.

"I guess this is why you wanted me to tag along." He didn't waste time beating around the bush.

"Well, I may have needed help carrying groceries. Think of this as a lucky detour." His aunt admits.

He wasn't really buying it as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I knew it. I thought you stopped playing matchmaker."

"I did! How was I supposed to know that she was one of her friends?" Candid had a good point.

"...You got me there." Shade admits.

"Good. Now, go and talk with her." His aunt reassures him, making Shade roll his eyes.

During their private talk, Sunset and Fluttershy had their own conversation.

"Thanks for answering my message, Sunset." Fluttershy picked up the bag as she said this.

"No problem. I didn't have anything planned this morning anyways." Sunset was humble in her response, "So, when did they show up?"

"They actually met me near my house. After I slipped from a sudden breeze, they were nearby to help and we walked from there." The way Fluttershy explained it only renewed Sunset's suspicions.

"I think it's about time we meet these guys in person. Do the others work today?" She told Fluttershy her little plan.

"The only one I think is working today is Pinkie covering for one of the waitresses." Fluttershy recalled.

Sunset then snapped her fingers, "Perfect. We can meet up at Sweet Snacks and have a little party."

"That sounds like a great idea." Fluttershy agreed, "Just let me put these away real quick."

As she went to the supply area, Sunset then hears the doors open as Shade walked out with his aunt pushing him from behind until they stopped a few feet away from her.

"Sorry about that, force of habit." Candid started with, "I'm his aunt, Candid Brace."

"Nice to meet you, Sunset Shimmer." She returns the gesture before Candid turned her head to look at Shade, "You were right, she is polite."

Shade looked at his aunt with a look that wanted her to stop talking, "Oh sorry, that's also a force a habit." She sheepishly smiled as she admits that.

"OK..." Sunset chuckled a bit in response before speaking, "You know, I think Fluttershy might need some help with the supplies I got her."

"Good idea. Best to see if she does." Shade agreed with her there.

Candid started walking backwards towards the doors leading to the reptiles as she spoke, "OK, OK. I see how it is. I'll go check and see."

Once she left, the two left out a small chuckle to ease the awkwardness a bit.

"Sorry about that. My aunt can be quite nosy in my business." Shade apologizes to her.

"It's all right. My friend Pinkie does the same thing." Sunset shrugged off.

The two went silent for a second before Shade asked the question that came to his mind first, "Winter came early this year, huh?"

"Yeah, the weatherman said that it wouldn't show up until next week." Sunset also found that strange.

"Still, I prefer it over the heat. I always hated sweating." He admits.

"Really? I'm the opposite. The snow can be a little too cold for me." She brought up.

"And let me guess, your favorite weather is summer time?" Shade puts his hands on his hips as he said that.

"Spring, actually. It's too easy to get a sunburn during the summer." Sunset corrected, remembering the first time she got one.

"Oh my gosh, I hate those. Last time I got one, I couldn't move my shoulders like at all." Shade shuttered a bit at the memory.

"Ouch. The last one I got a while back, I couldn't have anything touch my entire back for a week." She recalled.

"Really? Not even laying down on the couch?"

"Not even that."

Shade laughs out loud for a moment at that, "That had got to suck so much!"

"It did." Sunset couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction.

Shade regained his composure for the second time today before speaking, "Yeah. I don't mind the snow, but fall is actually my favorite season."

"Really? How so?" She was a bit intrigued at this.

"The trees in the winter are so barren, nothing but sticks attached to a log with roots. However, the trees in the fall has the leaves in various colors from a vibrant green to a deep red as the cool breeze blows through them ever so nicely..." He stops himself as he finally realizes how he described his answer.

Sunset couldn't help but listen to how vivid he visualize for her to imagine, "Impressive. Do you read poetry?"

Shade lightly scratches the back of his neck, "Kind of. I actually write in my off time. Just little stories, though."

"That's actually pretty cool." In her mind, she compared it to writing in her magic journal.

Shade looked at her in surprise for a second before growing a small smile, "Thank you."

Now that they have broken the ice, Sunset decides to put her plan into action. "Hey, do you have anything planned for today?"

"Hmm... I wanted to play a game I've been waiting to come out for almost nine months." Shade admits, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was thinking of us and our friends having a little party to get to know each other." She answers honestly to his question.

"A party?" He repeated to make sure he heard right, "Nothing fancy, right?"

"Nothing fancy, just hanging out." Sunset clarifies.

Shade thought about it for a few seconds as he mutters to himself, "Visor likes parties, but I'm not sure about Levin. Especially since the girls might come too."

Sunset froze after hearing that. She didn't think about where the Dazzlings lived, but his words implies that they stay with Levin right now. Bringing them could make things not only awkward, but also have a chance of their true identities getting out. Next thing she knew, he reaches for his phone to see that he got a text.

"Can I take a rain check on that? My friend Visor invited me to have lunch over at the Sweet Snacks cafe." Shade told her what the message was.

_"What luck..."_ Sunset thought to herself before answering, "Yeah, sure. Maybe some other time."

The two then heard the doors open from the aquarium area as Candid and Fluttershy enter back into the foyer, talking among themselves.

"I really like those Guppy fish, they're so colorful." Candid commented.

"They are quite nice to look at." Fluttershy agreed with her before seeing Sunset and Shade, "Hello."

"Had a nice tour?" Shade wondered.

"Yeah! Fluttershy knows pretty much everything around here." Candid complemented her.

"T-Thank you." Fluttershy wasn't used to getting complements from others.

"Hey, Visor invited me for lunch just now. Do you want to come along?" Shade mentions to his aunt.

"You sure? I might embarrass you again." She teases, making him doubt his offer.

"...You make a good point, I'll see you at home." She chuckled at how fast he took his words back.

"Very well then. I'll just get a lighter load this time." She then started to leave the building as she continued, "Nice meeting you girls!"

"Nice meeting you too!" Fluttershy said back as she and Sunset waved her bye.

Shade texted Visor back as he spoke, "OK, I'll be seeing you two later. Wanna exchange numbers for that party?"

"You read my mind." Sunset agreed with him on that.

After the three did just that, Shade puts his phone back in his pocket as he leaves the shelter.

"Did your plan work?" Fluttershy wasn't sure on what he meant.

"Well, yes and no." Sunset then went to her text messages, "I'll explain on the way."

**And done! Wow, it's been awhile since I wrote a chapter this long. And this is from only a couple of ideas I wrote down, so it's crazy on how long one can be by itself. So, Sunset is tired of this game of back and forward, which she decides to take into her own hands. Wanting to meet the entire trio, she comes up with a plan that involves Pinkie at the forefront. Will it succeed? Find out next chapter!**


	7. C6: Breaking the Ice

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back. Getting to the point, let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: Yeah, that last part I just threw in to make the conversation more interesting. But of course, they're not that cold. Funny how life works out like that. You shall see soon enough.**

**Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's continue.**

**Chapter 6: Breaking the Ice**

After taking a ride around the city, which he likes doing from time to time, Visor parks his bike near one of the cafes to eat. This cafe had an interesting vibe to it that he liked, as it appears to be made from the fifties. Taking off his helmet and placing it on the bike, he then pulls out his phone to see if the others wanted to join him for lunch as he looks at the time.

"Man, they weren't kidding about time flying." He said to himself before sending them a text invite.

The cool wind blew by soon after, making him thankful that he was well prepared for the dreadful cold as he puts his phone back in his pocket. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt under a red zipped-up collared jacket with a white scarf around his neck, black gloves, blue pants, and brown boots.

"Jeez, man. Never liked the cold." He shivered as he quickly walks to the entrance.

Once he entered through the double doors, he looks around the place as he adjusted to the warm temperature. It wasn't a fancy restaurant with many tables, but is more accustomed to booths and seats at the counter along with a large enough area for people to dance around in with the music playing from the jukebox. He only came in here a couple of times before, so he was familiar with how things went as he goes to an empty booth near the end at the corner, despite the majority of the place being rather empty besides two people at the counter.

However, things were different today as once he sat down, a waitress was already at his table in an instant.

"Hi there! New around here?" Visor has seen the employees' faces enough to recognize them on the spot, but this one happened to not be one of them.

The waitress wore their uniform, but the similarities end there as she had light pink skin that went really well with her puffy rosy pink hair. Her pale cerulean eyes stared at him with a charming smile accompanying them. By now, he realized that he was quiet for too long and spoke up.

"A-Actually, I came in here a few times already." He was still caught off guard by how fast she was.

"Really? I work a lot of times during the week, so I would definitely know a familiar face." The waitress pointed out.

"Guess I come in when you're not." He immediately realized that came out ruder than he wanted, but she didn't seemed to catch that.

"Probably. Name's Pinkie Pie, I'll be serving you today!" The girl cheerfully introduces herself.

Once he heard the name, it clicked in his head just like that. "Oh, you must be a friend of Applejack's!"

"Wait, wait, wait. If you know one of my friends, then you must be-" She then gasped in a rather dramatic fashion, "Levin, right!?"

"Nope." Visor chuckled a bit at that, "Try again."

"Oh, oh, Shade!" Again, she missed the mark.

"Strike two." He simply said.

"OH! Visor!" She finally got it.

"Home run!" He cheered, "Pleased to meet you."

He holds out his hand to shake hers, but was surprised when she shook it with such vigor that it almost made him dizzy.

"Great to meet you too! My friends mentioned you guys once or twice before, which is why I know your names." She clarified why they were familiar to her.

Visor shook off the remaining dizziness he had during her explanation before speaking, "Well, that explains quite a bit. Funny enough, I actually invited them to come here. Don't worry, I got a feeling that they'll like you."

"Ohmigosh, that would be SO AWESOME!" She was definitely excitable like a kid on a sugar high, making him let out a small laugh.

Thankfully, it seemed that the others behind the counter are used to seeing her like this as Pinkie then realized something. "Oh wow, all this time, you didn't tell me what you wanted."

"Oh snap!" He just realized that when she pointed out, "Um... just some hot chocolate would be nice."

"Okie dokie lokie!" And just like that, she zoomed off and came right back in no time with said hot chocolate as she puts it on the table in front of him. "Here you go!"

"Whoa, that's amazing!" Out of curiosity, he then takes a sip of it to be pleasantly surprised at the taste. It was fresh, like it was right out of the pot. "How did you do that!?"

"I made it, silly!" Her response confused him, but it didn't sound like sarcasm as she continued. "If you need anything else, just let me know!"

"Sure, thanks." And with that, the waitress left him alone for now.

As she got behind the counter, her phone vibrated to let her know she got a text. Picking it up, she looks at her phone to see that she got a message from Sunset.

_SS: Hey, I need a favor._

_PP: Depends on what the favor is._

_SS: I have a plan that involves a party._

_PP: You now have my full attention._

_SS: For some reason, those boys from yesterday keep showing up one way or another. To see why this is happening, I was thinking of us getting together and meeting them face to face._

_PP: That would be fantastic! But, I'm at work right now._

_SS: Here's the best part, the cafe is where the party will be._

_PP: OH! That's a much better idea! Actually, now that you mentioned it, Visor is already here._

_SS: Shade was over at the shelter earlier when he brought up the invite. If luck's on our side, Levin will be there too._

_PP: What about the Dazzlings?_

_SS: If they show up, we'll have to improvise to avoid unnecessary info being said. We don't know much about the boys, so it'll be best to play it safe. I already told the others the same._

_PP: Okie doki lokie! What time will you be here?_

_SS: Waiting on Rainbow right now. Had to pull her away from reading her Daring Do book._

_PP: Then I'll keep them busy._

She didn't want to slow down her service, that would make them suspicious. Her thought process was then interrupted as the doors open to show one of his friends have already arrived.

"Yo, Levin!" Visor called him to get his attention, proving successful as his friend then walks on over to his booth.

Pinkie got a closer look at him as he walks over to his friend. He wore a blue zipped-up collared jacket with a grey scarf around his neck over a black long-sleeved shirt, black gloves, green cargo pants, and black boots. Right as he sat down, she zipped on over like before.

"Hiya!" She greeted.

"Hi there." Like Visor, he was a bit surprised on her sudden arrival.

"Pinkie, Levin. Levin, Pinkie." Visor quickly introduced the two.

"Oh!" Levin got the picture now, "Nice to meet you."

"Something tells me... you also want hot chocolate." She had a smirk on her face as he practically stared at her for a few seconds.

"...And I thought Shade was psychic." Levin muttered to himself, which Visor caught and simply chuckled in response.

"I'll take that as a yes!" And once again, she zipped away and back in an instant with his hot chocolate in hand.

Levin only stared as she puts the cup in front of him, "Here you go!"

"H-How did you..." He was still processing what just happened, which Visor fast forwards for his sanity.

"She made it." He repeated what she said to him with a smile.

Levin looks at him and then back at her, "...Thanks."

"Your welcome! So, I may have a few questions since I am a bit curious about you guys." Pinkie brought up.

"Funny, I have many questions for you." Levin remarks back, "First things first, how are you able to... zoom around like that?"

"Well, it may be because I'm wearing roller skates." She then lifted one of her feet to show that she wasn't lying.

"But... you were moving way faster than that." Levin clarifies what he actually meant.

"Oh, that! My friends asked me that a lot too, but I never had an answer. They eventually agreed that it was just me being me." Pinkie went on to explain what she heard about her from others.

"So basically, no one can figure you out?" Visor had a worried expression on his face as he heard Levin say that with a cocky smirk on his own.

"Levin, no. You already have a big case that involves something just as crazy." He warned his friend by reminding him about the task at hand.

Levin then looks right at him with his eyes glowing with confidence as he declares, "If I can prove her strange powers, then magic is just as possible!"

Visor was extremely tempted to facepalm as his expression informed Levin of what he just did. The latter moved his eyes towards Pinkie, who just had a happy smile on her face like she didn't hear anything.

"I mean seriously, how do those street magicians saw people in half without harming them? Something's going on there!" Levin quickly recovered to cover up his mistake.

"I thought I was the only one who wondered about that!" Pinkie responded to that one, which Visor let out a sigh of relief before changing the subject.

"Where are the girls? I figured that they would follow you everywhere." Visor joked a bit, but had a point.

"Actually, it's the strangest thing. Earlier today, Adagio wanted to talk to Aria and Sonata alone in her room. When I went up there to tell them about this, they didn't feel like going anywhere today. After saying I'll bring them back something, that was it." Levin explained before taking a sip of his hot coco.

"Well, they did go to the mall yesterday and were... traveling around beforehand. Probably need a break off their feet for awhile." Visor then took a small sip of his hot coco as Levin nodded his head.

"Yes, very true." He agreed with his friend before turning to Pinkie, "Actually, I had a question about you guys. Your friends seem to have some history with the girls, how did you meet them?"

"Well..." She honestly didn't expect that question now, forgetting to prepare a story for them.

Looking out the window, luck appears to be on her side today as she saw her friends crossing the street to the cafe outside.

"Sorry! More customers! Answer later!" Her mouth somehow moved faster than her words before she zipped off, leaving the boys confused.

Pinkie stood near the doors as her friends entered the cafe, wearing their winter attire for the cold.

Sunset and Fluttershy had theirs while Rainbow wore a cyan blue zipped-up winter jacket with white accents that has her signature 'cutie mark' of a rainbow lightning bolt from a storm cloud on the back over a black long-sleeved shirt, a black and white striped beanie on her head, black pants, and red boots.

Applejack wore a shamrock green long-sleeved plaid collared shirt with her signature brown stetson hat, blue jeans with three red apples on her left thigh and brown cowboy boots.

Rarity wore a amethyst violet winter coat that has three blue diamonds on the left hip over a long-sleeved sapphire shirt, sapphire gloves, sapphire pants, and white heeled winter boots.

The excitable party girl was right there to greet them. "You made it, great! Two of them are already here, still waiting on Shade."

"Really? I thought he would be here before us..." Sunset knows that he left before them from the shelter.

"Maybe he just got a little lost on the way. He'll show up sooner or later." Applejack suggested.

"Then again, it's not really that hard to miss this place..." Rarity pointed out.

"Anyways, is it just them or-" Rainbow then looks around before leaning in towards Pinkie, "Are the Dazzlings showing up too?"

"Nope! Levin mentioned that they're... resting or something." Pinkie lightly scratches the side of her head, "I was more focused on this 'magic case' that he talked about before that."

The others stared at her in concern, "What kind of magic?" Fluttershy was the first to ask for clarification.

"Don't worry, he means the magic tricks that Trixie does." Pinkie reassures them on that.

Her words put them at ease before Sunset spoke, "Well, feel free to prepare the party. I gotta use the restroom real quick."

Pinkie lead the way for the others to seat them in a booth right behind the boys, who were thankfully too into a conversation to notice them.

"I find it funny that you would still ride your motorcycle even though you hate winter." Levin chuckled a bit at that.

Visor gave him a blank stare in response, "Correction, I hate the cold. I like everything else about winter, especially the holidays."

"Oh yeah, Hearth's Warming is coming up..." Taking a sip of his hot coco, Levin is a bit concerned about the new addictions this year.

Visor caught his expression and was about to ask what, only for a sudden slam from the double doors to catch the attention of the establishment. To their surprise, it was Shade as he had his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath as the doors closed behind him.

"Note to self... double check everything." He muttered to himself.

Looking back up, he realizes that his entrance got the attention of others, which made him a bit uncomfortable. Clearing his throat, he lets out a small nervous laugh to try shrugging it off.

"Sorry." He simply said as he walks down the aisle before seeing his friends at the very end.

He quickly zooms to an empty seat there, passing by the girls without knowing and breathes a sigh of relief as the others went about their business once again.

Sunset walks out of the restroom soon after and joins her group in their booth, "Did I miss anything?"

"Just the arrival of the third guest." Rainbow answers nonchalantly.

"Told ya he was lost." Applejack had a little smirk on her face as she reminded her.

"I forgot to ask, were we supposed to bring something?" Rarity brought up.

"This is just a making-new-friends party! If we come on too strong, we'll only scare them away!" Pinkie popped up from under the table to clarify the plan.

"I didn't know you had different levels of parties." Fluttershy was right as the others are just now hearing about this.

"Classified information, hush hush!" Pinkie put both her index fingers against her lips to emphasize the 'hush hush'.

As the girls were left with questions in their heads and Pinkie secretly setting up the decorations, the boys were talking to each other.

"Surprised that you didn't break the glass." Visor pointed out.

"Didn't want to, obviously. I'm not lying when I say I was going around in circles for almost half an hour just to find out that it was the place with the car on top!" Shade explained to the two, rubbing his forehead soon after.

Visor was a bit confused at that, "Really? I recognized the place just like that."

"Probably a brain fart." Levin pointed out.

"Most likely..." Shade agrees with a sigh.

"Sorry for the wait. Would you like anything?" Visor and Levin were a bit confused when a different waitress came to them instead of Pinkie, with the exception of Shade who just came in.

"Yes, whatever they're having and a glass of water... with extra ice." Shade now sounded a bit tired than before.

"Hey, Doo Wop. Been awhile." Visor emphasized her name like a little tune in his head, which Levin and Shade looked at him with curiosity.

The waitress had light amber skin and light violet hair with mulberry streaks as her light harlequin eyes playfully rolled with a smirk on her face.

"I forgot how much you liked my name." She giggled a bit as she said that.

Visor lets out a cheerful laugh before speaking, "Oh come on, I mentioned how much I would have liked a name like that! Each time I get called-"

Next thing they knew, he started singing a tiny tune that caught them off guard as he tapped the edge of the table in a rhythm with his index fingers.

_Doo wop doo wop_

_Doo doo wop wop doo wop_

_Doo doo wop wop_

_Doo wop doo wop doo wop doo wop!_

What he didn't expect at the end of his performance was small applause from customers and staff alike, which he stood up and gladly did a little bow.

"Thank you! You're too kind!" He then sat back down as the waitress left to get Shade's order.

"Didn't think you were a music man." Levin voiced their surprise.

"I started doing my own little tunes recently. Just instrumentals, though. I can't think of lyrics for the life of me." Visor chuckles at the last part he said before drinking a bit more of his hot coco.

"Nothing wrong with starting small..." Shade had a good point on that.

"You feeling all right, man?" Levin was now a bit concerned at how he was speaking now.

"Kind of. I'm trying to figure out all these coincidental meetings with those girls we met..." Shade then rubs his head a bit more, "Giving me a headache."

"Destiny or fate. Those two are usually the culprits." Visor casually mentions.

"I don't buy that. Everything has a reason for happening." Levin doubted that.

Doo Wop returns to their booth, placing the hot coco and glass of water in front of Shade. "There you are."

"Thanks, miss." Shade then took a couple of gulps from his water before placing the glass cup on the side of his head, "Better than nothing."

"I forgot to mention, Pinkie wanted me to tell you..." Doo Wop then pulls out a small confetti shooter from her pocket and fires it, making it rain confetti upon the boys as she was suddenly replaced by the party animal herself.

"SURPRISE!"

As if they entered another world, they were surrounded by party decorations that somehow went by them unnoticed until now. Shade was blinking his eyes a few times as he tried to process what just happened.

"H-Wha-Who!" Was the best he could manage before just having his mouth open in shock.

"Is there a birthday today?" Visor was surprisingly unfazed as he asks this question.

"I know it's not one of ours." Levin remembers when their birthdays were, which were far from today.

"Of course not, silly! This is a small get-together party to get to know you guys!" Pinkie clarifies for the trio.

"...And the puzzle goes ever bigger." Shade recovered from his shock after her explanation, "First things first, I'm Shade. Nice to meet you, Pinkie."

Pinkie simply waves at him in response before he continued, putting his glass of water down on the table. "Second, Sunset invited us to a party earlier today before Visor sent this invite. I figured that she meant having it on a different day, but it looks like she planned for us to come here since Pinkie is working today."

"I think this is what the rule of three means." Visor thought out loud.

"If what you say is true, then her friends will show up soon." Levin then leans back into his seat, "Today, this little mystery will be solved. Ain't that right?"

"We agree with ya there." The three turned their heads towards the voice to see five familiar faces staring right back.

"Um, hi." Fluttershy simply said.

After Visor moved to sit on the other side of their booth, that left the empty side to be filled by three of the girls as the other two stayed in the second booth. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack sat across from them as introductions were in order once again. Rarity and Fluttershy looked over from behind their seat as the boys started the conversation.

"Let's get this ball rolling. I'm Levin Reed, the leader of this little group." He was quite confident in that claim, making the other two raise their eyebrows before shrugging it off.

"I'm Shade Scintilla, the sensible one in the group." Levin lightly smacks his shoulder with his hand after he said that, chuckling a bit at his friend's response.

Visor had a playful tone in his voice as he snaps both fingers, pointing at himself. "And I'm Visor Chevalier, the fun dude in the group."

The girls decided to follow along with their little joke, starting with Sunset. "Sunset Shimmer, the leader... I guess."

"I'm Rainbow Dash, the awesome one!" Like Levin, she was very confident with her intro.

"I'm Applejack, the honest one." She tipped her hat a bit to them as she spoke.

"I am Rarity, the elegant and fashionable one." The boys knew that from yesterday, so she is right.

"I'm Fluttershy... yes." She was humble with her words, unlike the others.

"And finally, your hostess of parties and fun, Pinkie Pie!" The waitress finishes before pulling out a plate of nachos, placing it down on the table.

"Oh sweet!" Visor was the first to dive in, taking a chip before the others even moved. "I was just thinking of getting these."

He took a bite of his chip as the others dig in on the food, which they clearly enjoyed by the sounds of it.

"These are so good..." Visor mutters with his mouth full.

"Agreed. Though, you should probably finish your food before speaking." Levin smirked as Visor gave him a small pout.

"So, with all of us here, why don't we start it off with the questions we have for each other?" Shade brought up, "Or rather the biggest question first?"

The others were listening in on him for the moment as he goes the direct approach.

"Do you girls believe in magic?"

* * *

"No, that won't work either..."

Meanwhile, back at Levin's house, the Dazzlings were in Adagio's room as they discussed what was on their minds. After he left, the three were working on a plan for payback against the Rainbooms.

"Oh come on! We have a stick to hold up the box with a string attached to it and once they get under it, we pull it and trap them!" Sonata held a drawing of her plan that she drew herself, which was really good, as Aria sat on the bed while rubbing her forehead.

"Sonata, they're not dumb enough to fall for that." She commented with a deadpan tone.

"None of these will work! Cartoons are not gonna help us!" Adagio was getting a bit frustrated at Sonata's 'plans'.

Sonata pouted a bit as she sat on the only chair, placing the picture on the desk as Adagio then lets out a sigh.

"At least you're actually contributing, unlike someone else..." She points out.

Her comment made Aria roll her eyes, "I'm not usually the one that comes up with the plans, leader."

"And sitting in silence is so not like you." Adagio jabs back.

"I've just been thinking, for your information. Almost everything has two sides, don't they? Magic is no exception, as those Rainbooms have that rainbow power and we used the negative side. In case you forgot, we got some of their power to use as our own during the Battle of the Bands." Aria's observation surprised the other two.

"...OK. And that has to do with now, how?" Adagio is now all ears with Sonata listening in as well.

"Think about it. If we were able to use their magic as our own, it shows that they're not invincible." Aria clarifies to give them a clearer picture.

"I doubt they would turn on each other again after last time." Adagio wasn't convinced about that approach again.

"That's not what I mean." Aria then stood up and crosses her arms over her chest, "Despite how powerful the magic is, it has some sort of weakness we could exploit."

"Do they have their own gems like us or something?" Sonata wondered out loud.

Her thought got the others' attention. As far as they saw, there wasn't really anything noteworthy on their persons that gave off an aura like their necklaces did. In fact, the only times when they used their magic was-

Adagio snapped her fingers at the same time Aria came to her conclusion, "Music!" The two were in sync with their answers.

"Music?" Sonata repeated.

"Yes. Their magic only appeared when they played their instruments, unlike us that just sing to activate ours. Without that, they are just normal teen girls." Adagio explains to her.

"Oh! That makes sense." With Sonata getting it now, Aria brought up another problem.

"Now that we know their catalyst, how are we gonna get our strength back?" She did have a point.

Adagio figured that it wasn't that simple as she lets out a breath she unknowingly held, "Since this is a parallel world of our original home, who's to say there isn't any magical artifacts from here?"

"Wouldn't they be in a, what's it called... museum?" Sonata mentions.

"Which means a bunch of guards that normal girls can be caught by if they try to steal them." Aria straight up stated.

Adagio was now feeling a bit of a headache coming on. Despite the realization of the Rainbooms' powers, they don't have a way to even the odds in their favor. Trying to keep her headache from getting worse, she concludes their little meeting.

"Whatever the case may be, we'll play nice with the girls until something shows itself. We may learn more interesting things about our opponents unlike last time." She told them before adding, "As for the boys, don't get too close to them. If they interfere with our plan, we deal with them."

Aria simply nodded in agreement while Sonata was hesitant. She knows that the boys are nice guys who don't even know about this, so Adagio being rather cold with her order was something she hoped didn't come up.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Sonata was brought out of her thoughts from Aria lightly knocking on her head, annoying her a bit.

"Huh?" She then noticed the others looking at her, "Oh! Yeah! Totally heard you, word for word."

Aria rolls her eyes as Adagio simply sighed, already used to Sonata's behavior at this point before the trio left the room.

**And done! Not gonna lie, I kinda want to do longer chapters more consistently since some of my ideas can be a short one on their own. So, the two groups fully meet face-to-face as the little party goes underway. Unbeknownst to them, the Dazzlings still have tricks up their sleeves for revenge. However, one of them seem to have doubts about their grand plan.**

**With the icebreaker out in the open, what will happen now? Find out next chapter!**


	8. C7: Magic or Fate?

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back! First, what do we have this time?**

**johannvanguard: That's good to hear, I spent a good bit on how the buildup will go before the party. Hey, Levin let it slip and had to recover on the spot. Of course, it might not last long thanks to Shade. To be honest, if the Dazzlings did return, Sonata would be in a similar position as kinda the middle person between good and bad. Ah, those good old questions for the future.**

**All right, thanks for your feedback! With that said, let's get going!**

**Chapter 7: Magic or Fate?**

The girls looked at Shade as if he just grew two heads, "Uh, was that a pick-up line or something?" Rainbow chuckled a bit as she asked that.

Levin burst out laughing as soon as she said that, "It definitely sounded like it!" He managed to say in between breaths.

Visor had his head in his hands, "Real subtle there, man." His voice did give away that he was laughing as well.

Shade just realized what they meant, "No, no! I didn't mean- gosh darn it..." He leaned his head back on his seat in embarrassment.

"It's all right, darling. I'm sure we know what you mean." Rarity reassured him, despite her attempt to stifle her laughter like the others.

"Don't worry, this isn't the first time he did this." Sunset recalls their conversation from earlier with a smile of her own.

Once Shade waited for the laughter to die down, all the while getting a couple of chips to snack on, he was able to clarify what he meant. Once he finished chewing, he continues his question.

"Do you believe in magic?"

"As in the street magicians, right?" Pinkie remembered the excuse Levin gave her earlier.

To her surprise, Shade was confused at that. "No, magic. As in magical forces from fantasy tales."

The girls were just as confused as him before turning their heads towards Levin, who was now nervously looking out the window.

"Good job." Visor coughed a bit to clear his throat, muttering that in between it.

Shade pieced together what they were thinking, "Wow, didn't think you were capable of lying."

"Correction, it was a half-truth. Street magic is included." Despite his defense, he was still looking out the window.

"Well yeah, but still-" Shade understood his point as he then took a sip of his hot coco before continuing, "Anyways, the reason why I ask is this. In only about two days, we met the six of you one way or another. If it really is 'fate' that we meet, then something is going on."

"I had a similar hunch too." Sunset added, "I actually planned this party to figure that part out."

"Then we're all on the same page?" Applejack summed up for them.

"Kind of." Levin then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper, "What I drew on here may be weird, but I hope you hear me out."

"Wait, are you sure about that?" Visor recognized the paper he was putting on the table.

He slid the paper towards Sunset, who picks it up out of curiosity. Unfolding it completely, the paper had rather nice drawings. What caught her eye though was the drawings themselves. There was the 'quadruple rainbow' from the Fall Formal, the alicorn from the Battle of the Bands, CHS, and the amphitheater. There were also lines from the rainbow to CHS, alicorn to the amphitheater, and the rainbow to the alicorn.

"This is..." She muttered as Rarity looks over her shoulder to see.

"Wait, that's-" Realizing that she spoke a little too loudly, Rarity closed her mouth tightly.

Unfortunately, the boys did catch what she said. "You've seen this!?" Levin was getting excited about that.

Rainbow took the paper to take a look, widening her eyes a bit at the drawings. "Whoa, these are pretty good!"

"T-Thank you. But... you guys seen this before?" Levin still wanted answers.

Applejack sees the paper before speaking, "I thought we were the only ones who saw it."

"...Am I in an alternate world now?" Visor couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I don't know anymore..." Shade was right there with him.

"This is awesome! I TOLD you it was real!" Levin was reveling in this, rubbing it in towards his friends for a moment before regaining his composure. "Sorry, they were a bit skeptical about the whole thing, so I'm REALLY glad that I'm not alone on this."

The girls were still thinking about this situation. Considering that both times the rainbow power was high in the sky, it was bound to be seen by others far away from the battle itself. In all honesty, they should have thought about that possibility actually happening.

"Oh, those! I was wondering what you were talking about!" Pinkie was standing next to Applejack to see the paper as she spoke.

"Do you remember where you were during all of that?" Levin had the momentum and he wanted it to keep going.

"Totally! We were all there when it happened!" Pinkie obviously couldn't read the room as the other girls were trying their best to warn her without drawing attention.

"WHAT!?" This time, the entire trio was in shock at this revelation so much that the entire establishment may as well shook from their voices.

The boys then realized how loud they got and quietly sat back down, "Sorry." All three again spoke in unison as the rest of the place went back to business.

The girls knew now what they had to do, "Would you excuse us for a minute?" Sunset asked.

"Y-Yeah, go ahead." Levin answered back.

They then got up and dragged Pinkie with them into the women's restroom, giving them a more private place to talk.

After checking the stalls to make sure no one else was there, Applejack was the first one to speak.

"Pinkie, do you ever have a little voice that tells ya to stop while you're ahead?" Her question was said with a very annoyed voice from her mouth.

"Yeah, but he already went out to lunch." The hyperactive waitress didn't seem to catch on yet.

Rainbow decides to be more direct with her, "You were about to tell them that WE caused that!"

"Well duh, that's how we saved the day. What's wrong with telling them that?" Pinkie was a bit confused at this.

"That's the thing. Everyone at CHS knows about our magic AND we know the students that goes there. I've never seen them even step foot at the statue since I arrived in this world." Sunset explains their little problem.

"Maybe they're transfer students?" Rarity suggested.

"At the beginning of winter?" Fluttershy had a point there.

"I highly doubt that. Though, I wonder which school they go to?" Sunset debunked for them.

"Why not just ask them?" Pinkie's suggestion caught their attention, "I would have recognized them if they did go to CHS."

"Then go on ahead, sugarcube." Applejack pushes Pinkie from behind towards the door as she said this.

"OK." Pinkie then went out the door as the rest tried to come up with something.

Meanwhile, the boys were processing this new development with Levin shaking in excitement.

"This is amazing! We actually have witnesses that have SEEN it too!" He had a big smile as he said that.

"Not gonna lie, I'm glad I went along with this now." Visor commented before taking a gulp of his now warm coco.

"Anyone else finding this weird?" Shade caught both of their attention with his question.

However, he was interrupted as Pinkie popped up next to the table, pointing at Visor. "Now I know why I didn't recognize you!"

"What do you mean?" He wondered.

"I know everyone that goes to my school, so it makes sense that you probably don't go there!" She explains.

"Well, that makes sense." Levin agrees with her there, "You must have photographic memory, if that's the case."

"Thank you." She accepted the compliment before asking her main question, "Just wondering, where do you guys go to?"

"We recently transferred to Crystal Prep this year." Shade was the one who answered this time, "What about you?"

"Me and my friends go to Canterlot High." Her answer makes the boys widen their eyes as she continues, "Just wondering, be right back!"

She then zoomed back into the restroom, leaving the boys stunned again. Levin picked up his paper that was left on the table and double checks the drawings.

"They go to the school that had the quad-rainbow! Dude, the pieces are connecting now!" His voice reached a higher pinch as he said that.

"That's what makes me concern." Shade spoke up, "She said all of that as if it was a natural occurrence there."

"So, is the school itself filled with magic?" Visor brought up a good point.

"It seems pretty likely, by the sound of it." Levin agreed with him there, "We won't know until we investigate it."

Back in the women's restroom, the girls were now on edge after Pinkie told them their answer. Or rather, Rainbow was on edge as she paced back and forward.

"Oh man, we are dealing with Crystal Prep now! If they find out that we have magic, the Games is gonna be chaos if they get it too!" She was frustrated at the idea.

"I still don't get the whole rivalry part, but these guys don't act like the students there." Sunset pointed out.

"Yeah, they totally won't pretend to be nice just to get what they want." Rainbow sarcastically remarked back.

Sunset couldn't help but feel that was a jab at her as she raised an eyebrow, only for Applejack to interrupt. "Look, we can go back and forward on this or do something about it."

"Right, I'm sure they have their reasons for wanting to find us." Rarity added.

"I don't think they know we caused it. At least, not yet." Fluttershy got everyone's attention with her words.

"That's it. We can send them on a wild goose chase!" Rainbow suggested.

"Can we just hear them out before you blow it out of proportion!?" Sunset's outburst surprised the others, even herself.

The others look at her in surprise as Rainbow then lets out a sigh, "Sorry, just thinking of Crystal Prep sets me off sometimes. Besides, they are nice enough to help the Dazzlings get back on their feet."

"Exactly. Now, let's hear the whole story before assuming anything." Sunset concluded their meeting before they exited the restroom.

During all this, the boys had already eaten half of the nachos. Though, it seems that Visor had the majority of it as Shade was talking about it.

"If you keep eating stuff like that, you're gonna get fat." He jokingly jabs at him.

"Don't worry, I keep up my exercises." Visor reassured him.

Levin then sees the girls as they came over, "And they're back."

"Uh sorry, nature called." Rainbow quickly said as their excuse.

"All at once? Was it the nachos?" Visor raised an eyebrow at that.

"Of course not! They are always made fresh!" Pinkie defended the food.

"Though, I had a question. Why is finding magic so important to you?" Sunset mainly aimed the question towards Levin, but it goes to all three.

The boys thought about it for about a minute, with the girls snacking on the remaining nachos as they waited, until Shade took a sip of his hot coco.

"Honestly, I don't really believe in magic. Everything has a reason as to how they work. Such an unpredictable force existing could be highly dangerous, but Levin is dead set on finding it. At the very least, I'm making sure the guy doesn't go cuckoo." He told them his perspective of the matter first.

Levin chuckled a bit at that as he muttered to himself, "I'm not that obsessed."

"For me, I've always been one for the exciting ideas for us to do. For example, one of my favorites was when we found this small creek behind the fence at our old school and went exploring to see where it lead." Visor started his side of the case with a small story.

"Oh yeah, that's when Levin wanted to see how deep the water was!" Shade knew what he was talking about now.

"I didn't think it would go to my waist! I was expecting at least the knees!" Levin couldn't help but laugh as he clarifies why.

"That's a deep creek." Applejack commented.

"It was. This is during our elementary school years, so it would have reached the knees nowadays." Visor compared their heights in his head to the water before continuing, "Anyways, finding actual magic would make a grand adventure in itself. Being able to prove the impossible, can you imagine that?"

"Oh, it would be awesome." Rainbow agrees with him there, mainly because of her experience with it.

"Exactly!" Levin jumped in at this point, "The impossible becoming possible, making dreams reality! So many questions to be answered, it could advance our lives much like technology or even push us into a brand new age altogether!"

Shade puts a hand on his shoulder, "Cool it or you just might faint."

Levin gives a small nod in response before clearing his throat, "Thanks. So yeah, that pretty much covers it."

The girls had their own thoughts about the trio, but they share at least one thing. Their motives don't sound like they're being outright greedy or selfish, but such ideals can be interpreted differently. With all that out of the way, Pinkie decides to shift the party back on track.

"Alrighty then! Time for get some sugar in your bodies!" She declared, switching out the empty nacho try with a new one with cupcakes.

"Sweet! I want sprinkles!" This time, Levin was the first to grab one as the others reached for them.

The group were now down to simple conversations, such as hobbies and favorites. Visor and Rainbow shared stuff in common with sports and loves parties almost as much as Pinkie, Levin and Sunset like to perform hands-on experiments along with sharing a flair for fashion like Rarity, and Shade likes animals similar to Fluttershy and Applejack. The party continued on with a more cheerful atmosphere while elsewhere...

* * *

Canterlot High was rather quiet as the snow fell at a moderate rate, being empty of the students that usually fill it during the week. Only one person would be seen walking towards the statue that displayed the mascot of the school. He stops in front of it and studies closely as he felt the cold breeze pass by.

He had light amberish grey skin, auburn hair with black highlights that reaches over his ears and the bangs swept to the left, and emerald eyes as he reaches into his left pocket to pull out his pocket watch. He wore a double breasted black winter trenchcoat over a gray short-sleeved unbuttoned collared shirt, a black full-fingered glove on his right hand where he held his cane and brown bandages wrapped around the entirety of his left hand and wrist, black pants and black ankle-laced boots.

He takes a glance at his pocket watch before putting it back in his pocket as he felt the wind pick up, using his now free left hand to hold onto his black winter wool-packer fedora on his head.

"So, this is where the source is..." The stranger muttered to himself, "At least that's what the rumors said."

He then walks around the entire statue, taking a closer inspection before finding something. On the surface that faced towards the school, there was a ripple effect as he brushed the tip of his cane against it.

"Is this water or something?" He was confused at that detail.

Out of curiosity, he started to press his cane towards it to then see a small light shine from where the cane was going. Suddenly, a large flux of the light fired out, pushing the cane and the stranger along with it with enough force to knock him off his feet. He was quick to recover, but the surprise on his face was still evident.

"Yeah, they were right." He then chuckled to himself as he places his free hand on his chin, "Guess rumors can be more than just gossip."

He then notices his cane glow for a moment before fading, feeling his magic energy recharged to full. He was glad at that fact, only to then hear a growl from his stomach.

"Probably shouldn't have skipped breakfast earlier." He remembers wanting to find the magic after arriving in town, he forgot to eat a proper meal.

Deciding to take the quick route, he then tosses his cane towards the roof of the school and actually warps to it in mid-flight, landing safely on his vantage point. Looking towards the city, he held his cane like a javelin as he used his left hand for aiming.

"First place I see is the winner." The stranger told himself before throwing it with all his might, sending it flying across the sky for a few seconds before warping once again.

**And done! Well, that answers that question. Now with the reveal of the Main Six being 'witnesses' to the magic the boys are looking for, they are now on the right path to the answers they seek. However, the discovery of them going to Crystal Prep makes the girls hesitant to tell them the whole truth. Meanwhile, a strange fellow has arrived at the school from the rumors going around and found that they were true before taking a break to eat.**

**What will happen next? We shall see next chapter!**


	9. C8: Special Snowflake

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back! Let us see what we got this time:**

**johannvanguard: Everything works out in the end. We shall see those... later.**

**With that said, let's get going!**

**Chapter 8: Special Snowflake**

The Dazzlings were walking in the snow towards Canterlot High, sneaking around to avoid getting seen in case there were any students there. Thanks to the new clothes Levin got them, they were better prepared for the cold.

Adagio wore a zipped-up dark purple parka jacket over a light lavender turtleneck sweater, lavender gloves, dark purple jeans, and black boots.

Aria wore a green zipped-up jacket over a white sweater, a silver scarf, purple gloves, black jeans, and purple boots.

Sonata wore a purple-red zipped-up collared jacket over a blue turtleneck sweater, a pair of red earmuffs, pink mittens, blue jeans, and fuchsia fur boots.

The three looked at the school with contempt, remembering their defeat thanks to the Main Six. Though, they weren't here to reminisce the past.

"So, knowing we're not here for sightseeing, what idea do you have in mind?" Aria was the first to speak.

"Equestrian magic came into this world from somewhere. If the girls were able to harness it without any magical artifacts, who's to say that we can't do the same?" Adagio had a good point with her hypothesis.

"Can we like, not, go through the entire school? That doesn't sound fun." Sonata complained on the idea of doing that.

Aria was annoyed at this, "We're NOT going back now after coming ALL the way out here in the cold!"

"There's no need to yell!" Sonata shot back.

"Quiet!" Adagio wasn't having any of their shenanigans today, stepping in between the two to stop them. "The sooner we find the magic, the sooner we get out of the cold."

Aria simply backed away a bit as she let out a sigh, leaning against the statue before almost slipping into it. The other two heard her yelp and caught her, pulling her back on her feet.

"Found it." Sonata said it for the others.

Adagio stepped forward a bit and reached her hand out, feeling the statue was not as solid as it looked. Seeing the ripple effect around her hand, she pulled it back as the three processed this.

"It was here... disguised as this statue?" Adagio said out loud.

"Actually, the horse is kind of a giveaway." Sonata pointed out.

"Let's just get this over with before I get a headache." Aria muttered as she walked towards it.

Pressing her hands against the surface, she pushes them into the portal as light began to shine out. As soon as she did this, a sudden pulse of energy launches her into the other two that knocks them down to the ground. The pulse went into the three as footsteps were heard walking over to them.

* * *

_Earlier..._

A cane was flying in the air through town as it fell towards the ground, the owner warping himself to it before landing on the sidewalk. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone close by to notice his entrance. Casually holding his cane, he walks towards the closest diner to eat. It was an interesting design, best described by appearance as 'retro-style' from other people.

The stranger strolls towards the entrance when the doors opened to let out a group of people, along with a person calling out to them.

"Nice meeting you guys!" A rather energetic waitress waved at them, the boys in the group waving back in response. "Nice meeting you too!" One of them said back.

The stranger walks around them and enters the establishment, greeted by the same waitress. "Hello and welcome to the Sugar Sweets Cafe! Pinkie Pie, at your service!"

"A pleasure. What food would you recommend?" He was more focused on filling his belly right now.

"Well, all our food is fresh and delicious! Sandwiches, finger foods, and especially desserts!" She listed some opinions as she escorted him to a booth.

"Just some finger food will do. Not much for sweets, but a dessert is fine."

"Okie-dokie! Be right back!" She then practically zoomed away and came back in an instant as he took a seat.

He blinked once at this, but glad that he didn't have to wait long. She had three plates of finger foods and one plate of dessert sorted on her arms before sliding them smoothly onto the table in front of him. Chicken strips, french fries, nachos, and finishing it with a slice of classic cheesecake.

"Wow, these are great. Thank you very much." The stranger then realizes an error, "Oh, I should have returned the favor earlier. My name is Aeon."

"Nice to meet you, Aeon! Are you new in town by chance? I would DEFINITELY know if I saw someone like you." Pinkie was curious, which is understandable considering his appearance.

"Actually... I have returned from traveling out of town for awhile." Aeon didn't mind sharing a bit about himself.

"I've been out of town before once or twice. Some places are very different than Canterlot, I know that much." Pinkie then claps her hands together, "OK! Let me know if you need anything!"

"Sure." With that, Pinkie went off to service the other customers.

Throughout his meal, he was peacefully eating his food while watching the people around him. A group of four that consisted of two girls and two boys sat at the counter talking, a middle aged lady sitting three booths away and the other waitresses going in and out of the kitchen. Halfway through his meal, Pinkie came back to give him a cup of water before zooming off again.

Other than that, it was quite uneventful as he finished off his dessert. He drank the rest of his water before having Pinkie pop up again.

"Did you enjoy your food?" It was rhetorical to her of course, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

"Yes." He simply said as she handed him the bill.

Holding it in his hand and doing the math in his head, he reaches into his pocket to pull out what he had left. However, he realizes that he was a bit short.

"Oh um... I humbly apologize for this. I forgot to double check my currency upon my return." Aeon felt a bit embarrassed at this oversight.

Pinkie didn't like that, but understood his current predicament and made a decision. "I'll let you in on something. I'm in a great mood right now, so I'll pay for it!"

Aeon was surprised at this, he was only a stranger to her after all. "I-I am grateful for the gesture, but-"

"No buts! Don't worry about it, consider this a one-time deal!" Pinkie insisted on her offer.

He deduced at this point that she wasn't gonna let up, "...Very well. May I at least pay with what I have?"

"And not have any for the ride back home? Not in this weather, you'll get sick!" She did have a good point.

While Aeon doesn't travel the 'normal' way, he didn't want to go into a very long explanation as to how. He places the money back in his pocket before placing the empty plates in a stack and getting up from his seat.

"Thank you very much, miss. I'll gladly return the favor when the time is right." Aeon reassured her.

With that said, he leaves the establishment and continues walking down the sidewalk casually. Once he got the chance, he went into a nearby alleyway before performing his usual traveling, using his cane to warp up to a roof before aiming to go right back to the school statue.

* * *

It didn't take as long as before, due to knowing the location now, when Aeon appears on the roof via warping. Before continuing what he started, he then hears voices talking on the other side where the magic was.

"The sooner we find the magic, the sooner we get out of the cold." One of them said.

He carefully looks over the ledge to see three girls around the statue as the one with the pigtails leaned against the magic source, almost falling into it if her friends didn't catch her. Pulling her out, the one with the ponytail commented on that.

"Found it." She pointed out the obvious, much to the frizzy hair's annoyance before she brushes her hand against the surface of the statue.

It rippled like when he found it before she pulls her hand back, "It was here... disguised as this statue?" He heard her say.

"Actually, the horse is kind of a giveaway." Ponytail girl's words caught his attention. The statue's a clue? To what, exactly?

"Let's just get this over with before I get a headache." Pigtails wasn't having any of it as she went towards the source again.

Pressing her hands against the surface, she pushes them into the portal as light began to shine out. Aeon observed as light shined through before a sudden pulse of energy launches her into the other two that knocks them down to the ground. Dropping his cane down to the ground below before warping, he then walks to them with curiosity before stopping a few feet away.

"It seems that you are having a bit of trouble with the statue." He spoke to get their attention.

Frizzy hair was the first to see him as they recovered back to their feet, "And who are you?"

"Just a simple man passing by. However, it's unfortunate to inform you that I found this first." Aeon told them.

"It just so happened that we found this way before you." Pigtails countered with, "So, too bad."

"Yeah, too bad!" Ponytail agreed with her.

"Funny. Didn't you say that you weren't aware of this having magic until now, Frizzy?" Aeon pointed his cane at the orange-haired girl, catching her a bit off guard.

However, she was more annoyed at the nickname he gave her. "I would tell you my name, but I'm well aware of this 'stranger danger'." She moves her fingers in the air for quotation on the last two words.

Aeon smirked at that as he places his cane to rest on his shoulder, "You make an excellent point. Tell me though, how do you know about the existence of magic exactly?"

"You first." Pigtails simply said in response, making him sigh a bit.

"...Encounters with the unknown can make one's curiosity peak. You could say that I'm a scientist of sorts." Aeon was vague with his explanation, "Now, if you are not gonna tell me your reasons, then I must ask you to leave."

"And If we don't?" Frizzy couldn't help but question that, due to the gentleman's appearance.

Aeon then moves his cane away from his shoulder, which Ponytail couldn't help but notice that the pommel of the cane glow for a brief moment before he places the tip of it firmly on the ground. "Like you three concluded, I am a stranger. Therefore, you don't know what I'm capable of."

He notices Frizzy observe their situation and was the first to speak up, "Fine, we got what we came for anyways. No need for hostility."

The other girls were surprised at this, but went along with it as they walk away from the school altogether.

"What a pair of interesting girls." Aeon muttered as he watches them leave. Once they were out of sight, he turns around towards the statue. "Now, what secrets do you hide?"

* * *

The day went on by until the moon was shining through the clouds, being visible enough to see from Sunset's window as she was writing in her magical journal to a certain friend in another world.

_Hey, Twilight_

_Strange coincidences has happened over the past couple of days. The center of it were these three boys who happened to have seen our magic from our previous encounters with evil magic that has happened at the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands. I decided that we meet them personally to find out their motives. They introduced themselves as Levin, Shade and Visor._

_While they each had their own reasons, they are working towards a common goal of finding our magic. However, we're being careful since we don't know much more about them. What do you think?_

Sunset didn't have to wait too long for a response as Twilight answered back.

_I agree that the coincidences are strange. Though, I can understand about others seeing our magic as it wasn't exactly subtle. At least you are starting off the right foot by establishing a connection, it gives you the opportunity to learn more about them. How much did you tell them, though?_

Sunset thought about what they talked about in the conversation before writing back.

_Thanks to a slip from Pinkie and stopping her in time, they believe that we are witnesses to the magic. I should have probably mentioned that the boys go to Crystal Prep, a rival school to CHS. Rainbow can tell you the details, but the general idea is that they are pretty competitive at the Friendship Games that we have every four years... for some reason. She believes that if they find the magic, the games will be... chaotic at the very least._

Giving the princess more details of the situation, Twilight responded back in seconds.

_Oh! Now I get it. Well, if you aren't really sure about telling them the truth, do you want me to hop on over? I don't really have anything urgent right now, so I'm able to spare a day or two visiting your world. Plus, it would be nice to see how you and the others are doing._

Sunset was surprised at this, then remembered when she came over during the Battle of the Bands before thinking it over. On the one hand, having Twilight here can be reassuring and give us a better perspective of the boys. On the other hand, while she did say that she doesn't have anything at the moment, the life of a princess can have that change instantly.

After spending quite a bit of time thinking over, she looks at the pages for a moment before writing down her answer.

**And done! A bit shorter than before, but it's mainly to establish the new character introduced last chapter and have the Dazzlings reach step one of their plan. However, bringing Princess Twilight in would make for some interesting interactions later.**

**OK, I've been curious about this for awhile, but what do you guys think of this story so far? Stuff you like or dislike, anything in between? This way, I'll have a better idea of what to focus on. With that said, see you guys next chapter!**


	10. C9: Shining Crystals

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to our little story! What have we got this time:**

**Maelaeran: I understand what you mean, but I felt like introducing him now to have a sub-plot within this story that links up with the main story. Don't worry, this will not hinder the main plot's screen time as Levin and the others are still the main cast.**

**johannvanguard: I figured that his method of traveling is much faster than usual vehicles, he can get to his destinations as long as he had proper aiming. They had different plans as far as he was aware. Well, those will be answered... later.**

**With that said, let's get going!**

**Chapter 9: Shining Crystals**

The next day goes underway as Levin was now sitting in his first period class, listening to his history teacher as he was assigning partners for a small project that involves historical artifacts. As far as he was aware, it only needed two people to work on it. He didn't have his friends in this class, so he didn't really care who he got paired up with as he continued doing his magic research.

"H-hello." He turns his head towards a rather timid voice as one of the students sat down next to him.

Levin would consider that he has a decent memory of who was in his class, but he didn't recognize this new face as she places her books on the table. Taking in her appearance, she wore the usual school uniform with her sapphire and violet hair tied up in a bun with a distinct rose streak, thick glasses on her face, and pale light mulberry skin. He then realizes that he may have stared a bit too long as she looked at him with violet eyes.

"D-do I have something on my face?" She wasn't sure on what he was doing.

He looked away right after she said that, "Sorry, just that... I don't think I've seen you before."

"Oh. Well, I've ran into you before." Her response reminded him of that time in the hallway.

"Wait..." He looks back at her, "Were you the one that bumped into me?" Her body froze before she let out a nervous smile.

"I-I'm really sorry! I had to get to my next class since I was already running late from daydreaming and couldn't spare any more time staying around-" The girl was talking really fast, making Levin chuckle a bit before he stopped her from rambling anymore.

"It's all right. Trust me, I got hit by worse before." Levin reassured her.

"Oh, that's good. I mean, that's bad!" She quickly corrected herself as he smiled at that, "I know what you mean." He reassured her.

Once the other students had their partners, the teacher elaborated on what they can use for research and are free to choose an artifact to do the project on. Levin was quick to go on his phone to find something they can use. The girl was a bit disappointed on how quickly he started on the project, only to notice something on the table in front of him.

On one of the open books he had, there was a paper that had drawings with lines in between them. Closer inspection confirms one of them being CHS, their rival school at the Friendship Games. The other ones were something she didn't recognize, making her curious for the context before he spoke up.

"OK, I may have an idea... from this selection." She changes her attention to him as he shows his phone screen to her, showing pictures of artifacts from the local museum as she read the title above the list.

"The mythical magic tour?" She was a bit skeptical at that, due to being more of a science wiz.

"It catches your attention right off the bat, doesn't it?" Levin pointed out, which she couldn't deny.

"Yes... What do you have in mind?" She was wondering about that.

"...Whatever catches our attention." He repeats before clearing his throat a bit, "Just a suggestion, of course."

She just did a small nod in response, now realizing that she hadn't introduced herself properly. "Oh um... I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Levin Reed." He held out his hand for a handshake as he returned the greeting, "Nice to meet you."

She took a second to process this before shaking it rather gently, due to not being very familiar with how it worked. He didn't mind as he shook at the same speed, seeing how... awkward she was? He figured it might be something like that.

"Anyways, I got a couple of ideas we can do." Levin places his phone on the table to show her what they were, "These are just random ones that I picked, just so you know."

Twilight looks at the screen to see a list of names for the artifacts. There was the Staff of Sameness, the Memory Stone, the Charming Gems, and the Enlightened Eagle. The last one sounded a bit more interesting since it was the only animal-themed one he picked. Pressing the option, it then showed a picture of it.

"The Enlightened Eagle? I thought it would be... well, an eagle." He wasn't wrong in thinking that as she thought that too.

The picture showed a rather normal steel cane used for walking that has an silver eagle's head at the pommel with the beak being long enough to hold with your hand. The head itself was rather detailed for a decoration as a equally silver handle was below it.

"If it was an animal, it would be called a fossil. It has to man-made to count as an artifact." Twilight elaborated for him.

"Oh! Sorry, brain fart." Levin realizes his mistake before continuing on, "Though, this doesn't look like regular steel we use nowadays."

He was right in his observation as the cane itself, besides the handle and the pommel, was a charcoal black color. Scrolling down to see what was written, it had a brief summary of what it is.

_"Some claim that this cane existed back in the times of fairy tales, perhaps when Star Swirl the Bearded was still alive or a forgotten artifact he created before his passing. An archaeologist recently found a small document that described a similar cane used in the battle against the Prince of Shadows. However, it most likely have disappeared or even been destroyed in the aftermath as it was never recovered."_

"An artifact wrapped in mystery? How curious." Twilight thought out loud.

"Have to agree with you there. Guess we got our project." Levin was on board with that.

Soon after saying that, the bell rang to signal the end of class. Once they packed up their stuff, the two headed out into the halls as they converse.

"What's your next class? Mine is algebra." Twilight noticed that he sounded a bit bored about that.

"You think you have it bad? Mine is gym." Levin heard her groan a bit at the end, which he can kinda understand.

"Eh, give or take. I think algebra is too easy for me now. I want them to put me in physics already!" He then sees Twilight perk up a bit.

"Physics, huh? You don't strike me as that type of person." She honestly answered, his appearance giving her the impression of an athlete at least.

"It's the hair, right? Fun fact, I just like it this way." He lets out a small laugh before realizing something, "Oh, we got next period! I'll see you around!"

"Oh, right! I'll see you later then!" The two then went their separate ways to their second period.

Levin didn't get far before hearing something that caught his attention, "That guy is Mr. Rumble's son?"

Looking towards the voice, he sees two boys talking to each other at the lockers. "Wait, you mean that new actor appearing in movies recently?" The other boy questioned.

"Yeah, they look a lot alike. Interesting that he was talking to that outcast." Levin heard the first boy said, which had his full attention.

"The smartest girl in school? He certainly picks his friends pretty well, most of the time at least." The second boy commented.

"He kinda has to. Being the son of a famous actor, you really think anyone wants to be friends with a spoiled rich guy?" The first boy assumes as the two left their lockers.

Levin listened the whole time, simply staring at the boys leaving until he continued onto class. Despite hearing it more than once, he's still bothered that people believe that. However, the part about Twilight was what he was focused on. Why was she an outcast? Is that why she was awkward with her social skills? The bell let out a warning bell, telling him that he was about to run late as he quickly picked up the pace.

* * *

Second period started in woodshop class for Shade as he started on a new project that the teacher assigned, which was a simple wooden bench big enough for two people to sit on. Sadly, since there were an odd amount of students in class today, he was starting on it alone for now. Once he looked at the blueprints, he examines the wood pieces at least about three times to make sure he got the measurements down as he was already hearing power tools turning on.

He looks around to see the students now on the cutting phase, some being accurate while the rest were off. One of them that was off let out an audible groan that he could hear over the power tools, which sounded female by voice.

"Told you to double check." Her partner was blunt with her words, making the girl more annoyed as she responded back. "I did! I know I did! Why didn't you tell me until now!?"

The annoyed girl had light amberish gray skin, brilliant gamboge eyes, and dark blue hair with cerulean and arctic blue streaks. The blunt girl had light bluish gray skin, grayish orchid eyes, and light gray hair with light bluish gray streaks neatly styled in pigtails. While the two had goggles on their faces, the former has a pair of her own orange goggles to use while the latter wore a pair of glasses behind her woodshop goggles.

Shade places a pair of goggles over his eyes as he tried to get started on his bench, only to still hear their voices.

"I did, but you'd ignore me." The blunt girl's tone didn't change as she spoke.

"I can't hear you over the tools!" The annoyed girl tried the excuse route, which her partner wasn't buying.

"Yeah, and I'm deaf." This time, he thinks that she was being sarcastic since her tone barely changed.

"Do you want to be!?" The other girl was now on the verge of exploding as she growled back.

Not being able to focus, Shade walks on over to see what was up. "Excuse me."

His voice got their attention as he continued, "Can't help but overhear the conversation. What's going on?"

"SHE didn't tell me my measurements were wrong before I cut the wood!" The annoyed girl pointed at her partner to emphasize her point.

"And like I said, I did." The blunt girl simply retorted back.

Shade looks between the two before speaking, "Look, I'm not here to take sides. Until you cool off, I can't focus on my work. That and you're causing a bit of disturbance."

He notices that some of the students took a glance at what was happening before going back to work. The angry girl was quiet for a moment before talking again.

"I'm only gonna say this once. I'm having a bad day right now, so just run along before I make you." She was being quite stubborn for some reason.

"Bad day, huh? Doesn't mean you need to take it out on others." Surprisingly, it was Shade that said that more out of reflex than intention.

The angry girl gave him a hard glare while breathing heavily, though it might be just intimidation to make him back off. A few tense seconds pass by as the power tools kept going in the background, the two basically having a staring contest before the girl broke eye contact.

"Whatever, I got better things to do." She told him off as she went to get another sheet of wood.

Shade let out a breath of relief that she didn't escalate the situation, but was surprised by what the blunt girl say afterwards.

"You didn't need to do that." He turns his head towards her with a confused look before questioning it, "Why's that?"

"She acts like this when she's in a bad mood. It's not often, though." She clarified.

"Really? Even then, I never liked being in the vicinity of arguments." He admits before changing the subject, "I'm Shade Scintilla, by the way."

"...Sugarcoat. My partner is Indigo Zap." She was a bit hesitant before returning the greeting.

Shade couldn't help think that her name was ironic, but resisted asking himself. "Nice to meet both of you."

The two then hear Indigo walk back over with two sheets of wood, most likely to make sure she cuts it right this time.

"You're still here?" He deduced that she's still a bit ticked about earlier.

Though, she did have a point since he hasn't even started on the project yet. "You're right, I better get back to work!"

* * *

The music class goes on for Visor as the teacher sat at her desk, having her assignment for the students already given last week. They were currently working on a freestyle song demo that consists what they learned this term, leaving it up to them on how they did it. He was fine working by himself as some partnered up or even did it as a group effort.

"Aw yeah!" He looks over to see one of the few that is also working alone as she was listening to her own music from her headphones.

He sees her around school from time to time, but she only has one class with him. He remembers her name as Lemon Zest, who was a bit... obnoxious to say the least as she usually has them on her ears. She had pale light amaranth skin with grayish arctic blue eyeshadow, light brilliant amber eyes, and light pistachio hair with pale grayish green and light lime green streaks.

"Woo!" It looked like she was playing the last parts of her song as she moved her hands in the form of a guitar.

He couldn't help but smile a bit at her little act, only to see that she was leaning a bit too far back in her chair.

"Whoa!" She yelped at the sudden change in balance as the chair fell back. Luckily, Visor was only two seats away when he moved in to grab the back of her chair to stop the momentum.

"Careful, being wild can be dangerous." Her headphones fell down to her neck from the sudden stop, so she was able to hear what he said as she turned to him.

"Maybe, but it's also fun. Thanks by the way, uh..." Lemon paused near the end intentionally for obvious reasons.

"Visor Chevalier." He introduced himself as he moved her chair back into position.

"Lemon Zest, nice to meet you." She returned the greeting, "Hey, tell me if this is good."

Next thing he knew, she places her headphones over his ears before playing her demo. The volume itself is very loud as he expected, but the music itself was pretty good. It had a rather simple beat in the background as the guitar played a small solo. After about a minute, the song ended as she took her headphones back.

"What do you think?" He barely heard her question as his ears was recovering from the volume.

"A little loud on the ears." He honestly answered, "Other than that, it was all right."

"Rock is supposed to be listened to at a loud volume." She countered with, "What do you listen to?"

"All kinds, some more than others. As long as it has a good beat and meaningful lyrics, I'm set." He briefly explained.

"Really? Mind if I listen?" Lemon pointed at his headphones as he also is doing the song project.

"Oh, sure." Not minding at all, Visor handed them over to her as she places them over her ears.

When he pressed play on the demo, she was surprised that the song was more in the direction of a jazzy tune. While it does some rock notes from a guitar, the main instrument was a saxophone that was rather nice to listen to. Once it finished, she takes the headphones off with a small smile.

"That was pretty good, actually." She admits.

"Thanks. I wasn't sure on the overall idea, but it eventually worked out." He agrees with her there as she gave his headphones back, "What about you? Do you listen to any other genres?"

"Occasionally. Though, it's usually at a party I get invited to or a radio in a restaurant." She answered.

"So, never intentionally?" He wondered.

Lemon thought about that for a moment before coming to the same conclusion, "I guess so."

The bell then rang, signalling the end of class as the other students packed their stuff up to leave. The two quickly put away their own stuff as Lemon spoke, "I'll be seeing you around, dude."

"Same to you." Visor said back as he had a little bit more to put away before leaving.

* * *

The next period is lunch, which was the only time Levin and his friends have together. As he entered the cafeteria, his first instinct was looking around the room at the tables filled with students. He spotted Shade and Visor standing in line already, but didn't see Twilight anywhere else. Concluding that she likely has lunch later, he strolls on over to his friends.

"Yo!" He simply greeted with to get their attention.

"Hey, finally getting lunch this time?" Visor jabbed, reminding him of last time.

"Yup. I need a small break after all the work I did." Levin retorted with, "How's today so far?"

"I stopped a fight from breaking out in woodshop." Shade was casual with his response.

His friends were confused about this, "Wait, really?" Visor was the first to question it.

"Yup. Turns out, the girl was having a bad day and the other girl told me that it's happened before." Shade summarized.

The three heard some angry mumbling behind them, but ignored it as they walked up a bit to keep track of the line.

"Well, nothing much happened on my end." Visor continued the conversation, "Though, I did find someone that liked my music in... music class."

"So, something did happen." Visor rolled his eyes at Levin's comment.

"What about you? Had your nose in that magic project again?" Visor assumes about Levin, who was quick to debunk it. "Actually, I have a small project about historical artifacts in history. Though, what has my attention is my partner."

"A girl caught your eye?" Shade joked, but wasn't that far off.

"You're half right..." Levin mumbled, though his friends did catch his words.

"Wait, which half am I right on?" Shade wanted to clarify.

"I have a female partner." Levin then realizes what he said and quickly corrects his sentence, "My partner is a girl."

"But you said that she caught your attention." Visor repeated what he heard.

"Not in that way and you know it." Levin felt his cheeks heat up a bit before explaining, "I overheard these guys as I was walking to second period that they saw me converse with her, calling her an 'outcast' in the process."

"Outcast? How so?" Shade wondered.

"Well, she acted a bit awkward when we were talking." Levin noticed that in their interactions earlier, "And she's supposedly the smartest girl in school."

"A introvert genius... sounds more like jealousy to me." Visor commented.

Shade and Levin agreed with him there as the line continued. Once they got their lunches and sat down at an empty table, they changed the subject.

"So, I was thinking about bringing you guys over to my house." Levin offered.

"And what do we gain from this invitation of yours?" Shade has an idea of where he's going with this.

"Nothing much, just getting to know the girls better." The two were confused about this.

"Wait, which girls are you talking about?" Visor asked for clarification.

Levin took a moment to process his question, realizing what he meant. "The three staying at my place."

The two immediately got it, though that made Levin think about the current predicament. The six girls they met yesterday and the ones staying at his place need a name to differentiate the groups, making him try to come up with one for each of them.

"I got it! The trio is the Dazzle Sisters and the six are the... Magic Girls?" Levin wasn't too sure on the second name.

"Better than nothing." Shade was all right with it before taking a sip of his milk.

"It's a work in progress." Visor mentioned as he was eating his apple sauce.

"Fair enough." Levin agreed on the names before starting on his food, "So, how about it?"

Seeing that they had no plans for the day, they agreed to the invitation before continuing their lunch.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an apartment downtown, Aeon was sitting in his room that has various equipment to detect magical energy as he places the tip of his cane inside a test tube, allowing it to absorb the energy he collected from the statue into it before removing the cane to place the lid on said tube.

"And that makes five." He said to himself as he places the tube along the line of the other tubes.

He then looks up at the bulletin board, showing pictures of where he found the sources of magic that now includes the CHS statue. The other four he found outside of Canterlot, such as in some old ruins in a desert and behind a waterfall in a rain forest.

A rather unusual sound was then heard as he turns his head towards the magic tubes, now emitting a bright green aura around each one. Though, what he found weirder was the fact that they were kinda glowing in unison, which hasn't happened before to his knowledge until now.

"How peculiar..." He watched in fascination as the auras then went into a light-up sequence like decorative lights.

Quickly jotting notes down in one of the many notebooks on his deck, he wasn't able to notice a small pulse shine inside the tubes that disappeared just as quickly as its appearance.

**And done! Alrighty then, this was quite the chapter to write. I wanted to write what an average day the boys have at Crystal Prep at an earlier chapter, but decided to hold off for later after establishing their characters. I also decided to have some familiar faces appear as cameos here, which would make sense as they go to the same school. For now, they are more of side characters in this story, so don't worry about them cluttering the narrative.**

**I also took the time to add some lore in this world's history from my own little mind to make things a bit more interesting, which doesn't hurt every now and again. Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!**


	11. C10: Lady Luck

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back! No wasting time, let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: It makes sense, considering they go to the same school. The last time they talked was at the mall, so I want them to have more interactions. I'm glad you are interested in Aeon since writing him is actually pretty fun. The questions will be answered... eventually.**

**Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's do this!**

**Chapter 10: Lady Luck**

The sun was above the clouds as the snow fell down along the cold wind, blowing through the courtyard as the Rainbooms walks out the doors with other students coming out behind them, signifying the end of school for today. At this point, Sunset has already informed them about her conversation with Princess Twilight.

"Are you sure that she is able to visit without any problems appearing?" Rarity was a bit unsure about that.

"She told me that there wasn't much happening over in Equestria anyways, so it wouldn't interfere with anything important." Sunset reassured her.

"Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!" Pinkie cheered, being her usual excited self.

"At least it isn't because of an immediate threat." Applejack was right about that since the last two times were just for that reason.

"And if we're gonna get any more out of those Crystal Prep boys, she can definitely help out." Rainbow brought up.

"It would be nice to relieve the uneasiness between us and them." Fluttershy added.

The group then heard a familiar sound as the portal at the statue was shining, a figure emerging from the light before dimming down entirely. Standing in front of it now was a girl wearing suitable clothes that she was told to wear by her friend before coming over.

"Hey, Twilight!" Sunset was the first to greet the visitor with her friends following behind her as she went.

It was indeed Princess Twilight, being recognizable by her dark sapphire hair having purple and raspberry streaks with her pale orchid skin and violet eyes. This time, she wore a pair of light red earmuffs over her ears, a light blue sweater with a bright yellow scarf and her dark blue backpack, yellow striped gloves, blue pants and purple boots.

"Girls, great to see you again!" She happily greeted them back, getting a big hug in the process.

Once the hug ended, Rarity was the first to speak. "Let me be the first to say, that outfit looks really nice on you!"

"Thanks. I just threw this on, honestly." Twilight admits about her winter look.

Fluttershy was a bit busy looking around for a certain talking puppy before speaking up, "Uh, where's Spike?"

"He was busy, but I made sure to tell him where I was going before arriving." Twilight then looks around to see other students, "Did I come after school was let out?"

"Yep, I call that good timing." Applejack was pretty much right on that.

"Then this means we can start on discussing our plans." Twilight brought up.

"At the very least, it's not gonna be a complicated one." Sunset commented.

* * *

The Dazzlings were currently in the Sweet Shoppe to meet with the guys. Earlier, he texted her about getting to know more about his friends while they were out and about. Needing to keep up with the 'good girls' act, she agreed before they went into the nearest place, which was where they were now.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait too long as the boys can be heard outside the entrance.

"I understand the cold, but the snow didn't do anything." Levin pointed out before he held the door for the other two.

"Except it shows up when winter's here, the coldest season of the year." Visor countered, walking past him with Shade behind him.

Shade rolled his eyes at this silly conversation, "It's just another form of rain, guys. With or without it, the season stays the same."

Visor was about to retort, but stopped when he saw the girls sitting at one of the tables already.

"Fair enough. Who wants to-" He was about to ask, only to get cut off.

"Got it." Without hesitation, Levin had closed the entrance door and went towards the counter in seconds.

With that covered, the two went over to the girls' table.

"Hi!" Sonata was the most vocal at greeting them while the other two simply waved.

"Hey." Visor responded back while Shade waved back.

"How are you three?" The latter started the conversation with a simple question as the two took a seat across from them.

"Nothing much, just decided to take a walk around town." Adagio honestly answered, though their reason is different.

"We don't want to stay held up in the house all the time." Aria had a good point.

"True. There's only so many times you can watch people hurt themselves for laughs." Sonata brings up.

"Oh please, I can watch those all day." Adagio disagreed with her with a smirk.

"Not lying, I watch those from time to time." Interestingly, Shade was on Adagio's side for this one.

"Eh, real life is enough of a reminder." Visor simply said.

"Here you guys are." The group heard Levin as he walks on over.

He brought a cup carrier that... well, carried their drinks with him before putting them on the table. Levin had caramel chocolate, Shade got milk chocolate, Visor has gingerbread, and the girls got simple ones since he didn't know what they liked.

After distributing them, Levin then takes a seat beside Visor before speaking. "So, what are we talking about?"

"TV shows of people being dumb." Shade answered.

"The game shows or the home videos?" Levin wanted elaboration on whichever one he's talking about.

"The latter." Adagio simply responded with before taking a sip of her coco.

"It can be very silly at times. You think some people wouldn't do certain things." Sonata wondered about that.

"They would do it for a dare or a reward." Levin then took a sip of his coco before continuing, "Even then, possible injury isn't worth it."

Aria rolls her eyes at that, "People are stupid."

"There are a lot of shows that are based on others' fails. Why is that?" Visor was onto something, which Shade followed up on. "Entertainment."

"The only shows I don't like are dramas. Some of them are so serious, it's laughable." Levin added before taking two sips of his coco.

"Is that what they mean by irony?" Sonata wasn't wrong in that assumption.

The others chuckled a bit at that, "Pretty much, yeah." Shade agreed with her there.

While they were in their conversation, the entrance doors open as the Rainbooms entered the establishment. By this point, Sunset and the others have told her more about the boys and the Dazzlings' return, which surprises her at first.

"Where have they been?" Twilight wondered.

"We're not sure, but they are currently staying with Levin right now. So, we'll see them sooner or later." Sunset explains.

"Or right now." Pinkie casually said.

The others were confused until they saw the Dazzlings talking with the boys at a nearby table.

"Wow, that was fast." Rainbow was the first to comment on it.

"Their first real friends, if I might add." Rarity told Twilight, who was happy to hear that. "Really? That's great!"

"Except they don't know about the whole Siren thing." Applejack added.

Twilight then had a new thought pop in her head, "Do they know about Equestria?"

"No, just the crucial events from this world." Pinkie answered.

"He did some nice drawings of them." Fluttershy added.

Twilight notices Visor and Shade next to him before asking another question, "What about his friends?"

"Just as much as him." Sunset was quick with her answer.

"So, tell me more about the school they go to. You mentioned something about these 'Friendship Games' they participate in against CHS?" Twilight was now more curious about this little situation.

"Yep!" Rainbow jumps in this time to explain that part.

It was at this point that Adagio notices the girls over near the entrance talking among themselves, "Oh great, it's the Rainbooms."

"Who?" Shade questioned before following her line of sight with Levin and Visor doing the same, "Oh, it's them."

"Dude, I'm starting to think that they're following us." Visor had a good point.

Though, Levin was more focused on the newcomer or rather familiar face of the group. A lot of questions raised in his head as he couldn't help but stare. His friends noticed his silence and looked right at him.

"Levin? Levin?" Visor waved his hand in front of his friend's face before snapping three times, to no avail.

SMACK!

"Ow!" Levin shouted out, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at who slapped him.

"Don't stare, it's rude." Shade told him as he sat back down.

Thanks to their little commotion, the Rainbooms was now focused on them, which the guys noticed as well.

"Hi!" After a long pause, Sonata was the first to greet the girls with a friendly wave.

Adagio and Aria were a bit confused at that, only for their attention to go back to the boys.

"Ladies, it's been... yesterday since we've seen you." Levin did the math in his head before realizing the gap between now and their last meeting.

"New friend of yours?" Visor pointed out Twilight in the group.

"Yup! It's thanks to her that we're friends again!" Before they can response back, Pinkie blurted out a neat little fact.

"Well, that's real nice." Aria muttered before taking a sip of her hot coco.

"Come on, sit down with us!" Shade invited the girls over.

Once they did just that and got some drinks soon after, Levin really wanted to know something as he has a closer look at Twilight.

"Um, I apologize for being blunt but..." Levin started, getting the others' attention. "We've already met."

The other Rainbooms froze, the Dazzlings were curious, and Shade and Visor realizes what he means as he takes a small sip of his coco.

"...We have?" Understandably, Twilight was confused at his claim.

"Wait, you mean that girl you were partnered with in history class today?" Shade recalled before Levin turns to him, "Dude, she can pass as her twin!"

"I told you!" Pinkie agreed with him as she looked at Twilight, since she did know about this when she met Princess Twilight for the first time.

The girls weren't really surprised that Princess Twilight has a human counterpart, but the fact that Levin has met her earlier today.

"So, are you two twins?" Levin followed up on, putting Twilight on the spot for an answer.

Thankfully, Rainbow answered for her- "Yes she is!"...For better or worse.

"Her long lost sister! She just recently came back to town today!" Pinkie took over at this point, "Last time she was here, we were too preoccupied with the whole magic business to search for her."

"The rainbow alicorn, right?" Levin was right on the money with that.

The Dazzlings were listening in on the conversation and couldn't believe their ears. The boys have seen the end of their battle? How much do they know about magic at this point? What has the girls told them?

"Does anyone think that all this is odd?" Sunset rightfully pointed out.

"I was just thinking that." Applejack agreed with her there, "It seems like you guys are just a magnet of good luck or something."

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Shade spoke up, "The faster the hunt, the faster we go do other stuff."

"No need to rush things." Visor disagreed with him there, "Plus, there might be something at the end of all this."

"Aren't you afraid of the possible danger?" Fluttershy had a good point.

"Risks are always a part of the adventure." Visor countered, with Levin adding soon after. "Especially with something unpredictable like magic."

"If I may..." Twilight spoke up, getting their attention. "My... sister is one of the reasons I came back to town. Sunset and the others have mentioned you guys were looking for proof of magic. Is there a reason why you are so determined to find it?"

The boys were quiet for a moment before Levin answers, "Well, I told them before that curiosity is my reason. So many questions on how history was made back then before the discovery of technology and I want to find those answers. Plus, if it's a form of energy, could you imagine the type of tech we could have in real life? The ultimate fiction-turned-reality scenario!"

"And we're just along for the ride." Shade casually added.

"That's quite the vision to have." The entire group turns towards Adagio, "I mean, if magic can be used for such ideas like that, then the same can be said for those that are quite selfish."

The Rainbooms knew what she was talking about, but the boys widen their eyes upon realizing that scenario. There are a lot of people that would use powers for their own benefits instead, so the fact that they didn't think of that made them feel a bit dumb.

"Yeah, like a certain preppy competitive school you guys go to." Rainbow was not subtle in what she is implying, which Visor was the first to point out.

"OK, can you clarify this whole competition thing? As far as we know, we've only heard about the winning streak." He questioned with Levin and Shade in the same boat as well.

"To keep things short and simple, it all started with the first Games." Rarity stepped in to prevent Rainbow from ranting again, "Once Crystal Prep won back then, they made sure to keep it that way. I have heard that the principal there might be quite the motivator for such behavior."

"Principal Cinch is an... interesting character." Levin recalls his meeting with her when he transferred, "Like, she's trying a bit too hard to come off as intimidating that it's kinda funny at times."

"And she loves to roll her Rs." Shade added with a small chuckle.

"Oh yeah! 'Crrrystal Prrrrep has a rrrreputation to uphold!' I couldn't take her seriously." Visor was laughing after he finished his last sentence.

While they are having that conversation, Aria was a bit confused on what just happened. "Any reason that you said that?"

"Come on, even I figured out that something wants these two groups together. And considering that stranger from yesterday, something big is coming. We don't have our powers, so those Rainbooms are the only solution I can think of to deal with it." Adagio did have a good point.

"You think so?" The two look at Sonata with a blank expression, "Actually, that makes sense."

"Plus, once they deal with him, we can swoop in and take the magic he obtained for our own." Adagio added.

"Huh. And I thought I was the smart one." Aria said before she took a sip of her drink.

"And you forgot that I'm the leader." Adagio retorts back.

"And I'm the funny one!" Sonata had a happy little tune play in the background as she said that.

"...Yeah, you think that." Aria rolled her eyes at that.

Back to the main conversation, Sunset was summarizing what they just talked about.

"So from all this, our Twilight and the Twilight you know are twins, Principal Cinch may be a cause for Crystal Prep's competitive spirit, and you three have good intentions along with some impressive luck." She listed for the others.

"Wait, why would you think we had bad intentions?" Shade wondered.

"Ask her." Applejack answered, her and the others gesturing to Rainbow as the cause.

"Oh come on! You guys thought the same thing!" She tried to defend herself at their 'accusations'.

"You were the one that brought it up first." Sunset casually pointed out.

"Either way, we are now on the same page." Twilight spoke up at this point, "It's very nice to meet you three."

"Oh, likewise." Levin agreed with her there, "You know, since we know where your sister is, would you want us to help set up your little reunion?"

"No no! Um, I haven't seen her in so long, it would be easier if I met her by myself." Twilight declined his offer, not sure what would happen if they did meet.

"...Fair enough. Family matters are usually personal business." Visor agreed with her reasoning.

"Good point." Shade then realizes an opportunity, seeing that the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms were at the same place. "Hey, Levin. All that talk made me a bit hungry."

Levin turns towards him, seeing his eyes were shifting between the two groups of girls that was hinting at what he was planning. Getting the picture, he went along with it. "Now? All right, I'm a bit hungry myself."

"Same." Visor also got what was happening as the three got up to their feet.

"You ladies want anything? It's on me today." Levin offered to the others.

"Yes, please!" Pinkie and Sonata were the first to answer, at the same time nonetheless.

The others added their orders to it before the boys headed off to the counter, leaving the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms alone. It didn't take too long before Twilight scooted a bit closer towards the Dazzlings.

"So, it's been awhile since I've seen you three. How have you been?" She started the conversation with.

"We've been doing fine." Adagio answered for the three before taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh. That's good." Twilight was a bit surprised that they're a bit friendlier than last time, "I've heard that the boys are helping you three out."

"Yes! Levin was nice enough to let us stay at his place for the time being." Sonata jumped in to continue the conversation, much to Adagio's and Aria's surprise.

Twilight was glad about that, but what she said raised a question. "Wait, did you have a place to stay at before?"

"We did... then we didn't." Aria summed it up just like that as the answer.

At this point, Sunset and the others have scooted over to join in the conversation as Twilight was a bit saddened at that. "Oh."

"But, that's in the past now! We're doing better and that's what matters!" Sonata tried hard to keep the mood from going down, which was thankfully working.

"Yeah! You said that you've learned your lesson and look what happened." Rainbow remembered their meeting at the mall to bring up a good point.

"You're not wrong..." Adagio muttered as she and Aria begrudging agreed with her before realizing the position they are in.

Part of the plan WAS to get closer to them without arousing suspicion to find something they can exploit, making it easier to take them down in the end. She unknowingly formed a smirk on her face before Pinkie suddenly popped up in between her and Aria.

"So does that mean we're friends now!?" She asked probably the most important question after all this time.

Adagio looks at Aria and Sonata, the former having a blank expression while the latter had a smile on her face, before looking back at Pinkie while the rest of the Rainbooms were waiting in anticipation for her answer.

"Sure." Next thing she knew, Pinkie pulled in the three for a big hug. "YAY! More friends!"

Back at the counter, the boys have already bought the food and waited a bit to see what will happen. After overhearing the conversation, they timed their arrival just right as they walked on over.

"Sorry for the wait. Had to be sure they got it right." Shade quickly told them as they set the food on the table.

Once they distributed who got what, their little party was now sharing conversations among themselves without the previous misconceptions between the boys and the Rainbooms. However, there is still underlying tension that is waiting to surface in the possible future.

**And done! Wow, this was an interesting chapter to write as I wanted this to be the end of Part 1... Yep, all this was basically part 1 of this story. It establishes our main characters, their connections, their interactions with the main cast, and how they will play in the bigger picture.**

**That's kinda why the Dazzlings were sorta in the back seat during the last couple of chapters since I wanted to take care of the tension between the two groups. Now that they are friends, Part 2 begins with the main focus back on the Dazzlings now. And yes, Aeon is still playing a factor in all of this, but how is the biggest question.**

**Anyways, next time we meet is the beginning of Part 2 of the Mysteries of Magic Saga! See ya guys next chapter!**


	12. C11: The Little Things

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to our Part 2 of this saga! But first, let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: Yeah, I figured why not since this is in-between RR and FG to have her appear. I am glad that you liked the conversations, I wasn't sure if it was natural enough for them, but it worked out in the end. We shall see, won't we?**

**Maelaeran: I just realized that! Probably should have clarify how the seating arrangements were, but hey. Makes as much sense as Pinkie. I wanted to do at least a cameo of Sci-Twi in this story since it takes place before FG and Levin's group goes to Crystal Prep, so it was bound to happen. It definitely sounds interesting since the third movie did have Princess Twilight in a deleted scene, so they may have planned on that before changing the script. But, would it change how FG will play out if they did meet beforehand? That's the big question.**

**Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's get going!**

**Chapter 11: The Little Things**

The park had a blanket of snow on the grass as the trees were losing their leaves, people walking along the concrete pavement that were the sidewalks. After leaving the Sweet Shoppe, the Dazzlings were having a normal conversation with their... kinda former enemies. It's a bit confusing, I know.

Anyways, the Humane Six plus Princess Twilight and the Detective Trio were getting to know more about the three. On the terms of hobbies, Adagio already mentioned watching funny fails on TV that doesn't really surprise the girls that much. As for the other two...

"You're into fashion as well?" Fluttershy was curious about another person being interested in fashion like Rarity.

"Who do you think did our designs?" Aria had a smirk on her face as she remembers adding the finishing touches to their outfits.

"We should exchange ideas! I have a few that will make you three look gorgeous!" Rarity was quite giddy about this, which Aria simply shrugged in response. "OK. Gives me something else to do."

Meanwhile, Sonata was showing Levin and Sunset a picture she drew yesterday. The former was flattered as it was a picture of her giving him a hug from behind, jumping onto him as he loses his balance a bit in surprise while smiling too. Bonus points for the drawing being the same quality as his own.

"Aww, that's sweet." Sunset complimented her on it.

"Thanks. I wasn't sure if I got the streaks right, though." Sonata pointed out that Levin noticed, seeing two of his streaks were not there.

"This is still amazing, I say you have an knack for this." Levin added his compliment before feeling something cold hit the back of his head.

Sonata quickly puts her drawing back in her pocket as Levin looks behind him, seeing Visor standing in the snow.

"Oh no you didn't." Levin couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he said that.

"I may have." Visor then formed a snowball in his hands before calling out, "Snowball fight!"

Levin ducked under the second snowball as Sonata and Sunset barely moved out of the way of its path with Shade catching onto what was happening as Rainbow quickly jumped into the fray.

"Let's go, boys!" Visor already formed a snowball as he heard that, surprised at how fast she made one before throwing it straight at him.

Her ball came in fast, hitting Visor in the torso before throwing his own in retaliation. Rainbow was swift in her dodge as Levin threw a ball at Visor who barely backstepped out of the way. Pinkie has now joined in as she started forming and throwing many snowballs like a turret with Shade forming a snowball of his own.

Twilight and Sunset only watched on as Applejack spoke, "I don't see why we should stay on the sidelines."

"It does look like fun." Fluttershy agreed with her as Rarity sighed before speaking, "I don't want to get my hair messed up, though."

The other girls looked at her with a blank expression before a stray snowball was tossed in her direction and hits her head. Rarity quickly turns her head in annoyance at where it came from before Sunset spoke, "How about now?"

"Oh. It. Is. On." Rarity narrows her eyes on each emphasis between her words.

Eventually, the entire group was now having a two-sided snowball battle. They were one person more, so the last one was made referee as the teams were formed.

Team One is the Detectives and the Dazzlings, which consisted of Levin, Shade and Visor along with Adagio, Aria and Sonata.

Team Two was the Rainbooms, which has Rainbow, Sunset, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity.

Princess Twilight was the referee as she stood in between the two teams to set the rules.

"All right, the rules we agreed on is a fort battle. Last fort standing is the winner. All snow, fair game. Now, let me get out of the way before snow starts flying." Twilight then went to do just that as the teams quickly formed a fort to protect themselves in.

One good thing that the Dazzlings learned when they arrived in this world is on their first winter, they witnessed a snowball fight and how it was played. After some practice, they were able to have some snowball scuffles of their own when they wanted to change things up from the usual day.

Plus, the snow they are using is currently wet, which makes the forts and snowballs basically better to use in such an occasion. Upon finishing the forts, Team One had a basic setup while Team Two...

"HAHAHAHA! I'm QUEEN of Rainbow Castle!" Pinkie declared as she stood behind what may as well be a castle that you would usually see at the beach from sand.

The height of their fort was about as tall as them along with small windows for them to see through as Team One was in awe at their opponents' creation.

"Just be glad that this is a FAIR fight or I would have let the cannons loose!" Pinkie added, much to their horror.

"...I'm starting to think we're a bit outmatched." Visor muttered.

* * *

After finding a safe distance away from the game, Twilight sits down on a nearby bench as she watches them throwing snowballs at their forts. The Rainbooms were mainly on the offensive as the Detectives/Dazzlings team were balancing offense and defense. Hopefully, they don't go too crazy with the snow or they could get-

"Twilight, right?" Her thoughts were interrupted by another voice that was speaking to her.

Turning towards the voice, she recognizes the person as said person continues to speak. "The Honest and Observant Trixie remembers you from the Battle of the Bands event, which I still plan on getting back at you and your friends for."

Yup, it was Trixie in her winter attire which wasn't much different from her usual attire. Along with her normal outfit, she added a pair of white gloves, dark blue pants, and a second jacket over her hoodie that was also dark blue.

"Nice seeing you too, Trixie." Twilight wasn't really concerned about her 'special plan' as she casually said hi.

"Here alone in the cold?" Trixie was a bit curious with her next question.

"No, I'm watching them throw snowballs at each other." Twilight pointed at what she meant, Trixie turning towards what she was pointing at.

Seeing the Rainbooms made sense, but she was surprised at who they were against. She recognizes Visor and Shade from the Canterlot Mall two days ago alongside another boy that she deduces to be their friend Levin they mentioned before, but the girls they are teamed up with were the-

"Aren't those the Dazzlings?" She was baffled at why they are here, much less playing in the snow with Twilight's friends.

"Yup, that's them." Twilight then remembers the last time Trixie interacted with the three, "Don't worry, they've changed since the Battle of the Bands."

"Really now?" Considering that Sunset reformed after her time as the school bully, it's not that far off to say they can do the same.

Watching the snowball fight continue, Levin throws a snowball at the same time as Rainbow does, the two balls barely touching each other as they pass by in the air. In that brief moment, the two dodges their snowballs with unbelievable reflexes before hiding behind their forts.

"How did you do that?" Sonata saw what happened as she was making more snowballs.

"No idea, but I'll take it." Levin was just as confused as her.

Visor and Shade were busy putting the finishing touches on a large snowball to toss at their opponents' fort, which was triple the average size of a normal one, for their heavy attack. The Dazzlings threw their last snowballs for cover as they deploy their special.

"Alright, ladies! Get ready for this!" Visor calls out as Shade picks up the large snowball.

Spinning twice to gain momentum, the latter then chucks it as hard as he could at their target. The Rainbooms were caught off guard by this and can only brace for impact.

"INCOMING!" Pinkie shouts out before the snowball hits the fort.

BOOM!

The snowball and the fort collapses into a makeshift avalanche upon the six, covering them in a blanket of snow.

"All right!" Levin shares a couple of high-fives with his team, the Dazzlings taking a personal satisfaction to this if they had to admit it.

They then heard clapping nearby, turning towards where it was coming from as the Rainbooms pulls themselves out of the snow blanket. Twilight goes to help them out as the one that was clapping spoke.

"I'll admit, it's nice to see you six lose something for once." Visor and Shade recognizes Trixie from before as her comment was towards the Rainbooms.

The Dazzlings were more curious as to why she was here before Levin asks the first question that came to his mind, "And you are?"

"You know the magician I helped out before?" Visor reminds him about, which his friend immediately clicks together as he continues talking. "Taking a break from the shows?"

"If you must know, yes." Trixie casually answers as she crosses her arms over her chest, "Though, I'm surprised that you're friends with these three."

"Jealous that we made friends before you?" Adagio retorts back.

Trixie narrows her eyes at her, wanting to shoot right back before Levin steps in. "OK, you obviously have some history with them too. If this ain't gonna be a friendly conversation, then keep on strolling."

The Rainbooms have finished cleaning themselves off at this point as Trixie clicks her tongue, "Whatever. I get to see their embarrassment today, at least." She lets out one more comment before walking away as the girls got up to their feet.

A few seconds passes by before Rainbow speaks, "Best keep an eye on her. She's trouble."

"She wasn't that bad before." Visor ruffles his hair to get rid of any remaining snow as he said that.

"When she wants something, she is." Aria clarifies for him.

"That was so much fun! Though, how did you throw that snowball?" Pinkie was the one asking this question, despite what she is capable of.

"We may have similar builds, but Shade can lift the heaviest between the three of us." Visor compliments his quiet friend.

"N-Not by much, obviously." Shade plays the humble card in response.

"It was still really cool!" Sonata agrees with Pinkie this time, speaking of which...

"Not as cool as Pinkie's castle. She makes it look so easy." Shade shoots a compliment back.

"You should seen the stuff she makes at the beach." Rainbow comments on her friend's skills.

Sunset is pretty curious on what she can make before Twilight spoke up, "Glad you guys had fun, at least."

The others agreed with her there, even the Dazzlings since they actually did quite a bit.

_"A sneak peek for what's to come."_ Adagio's thoughts made her have a small smirk on her face, which went unnoticed by the others.

* * *

The sun was setting by the time the two groups went their separate ways, Sunset offering to let Twilight stay at her place this time as the two were currently walking to it. While on the way, they took the time to catch up on what's happening.

"So, any new adventures for the princess of friendship over there?" Sunset started the conversation.

"Actually, we have a map of Equestria in our castle that our cutie marks appears at a location to give us one." Twilight answers, much to Sunset's surprise.

"Really? Hopefully, it doesn't happen while you're sleeping." Sunset imagines it being like an alarm clock going off immaturely, making her smile a bit at the idea.

Twilight chuckles a bit at that before responding, "No, nothing like that. Our first adventure took us to this town called 'Our Town', which is the actual name of the town."

"What a creative name." Sunset comments on that with a bit of a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah. Anyways, the leader of the town was a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer who was quite powerful with her magic." Twilight continues on, "She was even able to cast a spell that took the townsfolks' cutie marks away!"

"A cutie-mark snatcher spell?" Sunset thought about the existence of such a spell, "I think I remember reading it in one of the forbidden spellbooks Princess Celestia had when I was her student."

"Good reason too, that can be quite dangerous in the wrong hooves." Twilight then realizes what she said before feeling Sunset's hand gently patting her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I didn't learn that spell yet." Sunset knew what was coming.

Twilight lets out a nervous giggle in response, "That's good to know."

The two have now reached Sunset's place, Sunset unlocking and opening the door for Twilight to enter first. Once the two were in, Sunset closes and locks the door before taking off her coat.

"Home sweet home. Make yourself at... home." She pauses for a second as she sees Twilight struggle a bit with her coat.

Once she helped her with that, the two took off their gloves as Twilight continued her story. "Anyways, when we found out what was actually happening, she took our cutie marks away and locked us up." She took off her earmuffs as Sunset puts their coats on hangers in her closet.

"If I remember correctly, when a cutie mark is taken away, the pony's talent attached to it is gone too." Sunset recalls from what she read.

Once their coats and accessories were put away, the two went over to the kitchen as Twilight confirms her memory right.

"You remembered right. Me and my friends weren't ourselves without them. We did manage to come up with a plan to not only escape, but free the town and expose her for what she forced onto others."

"So, why did she do all that anyways?" Sunset wondered.

"She believes that if they didn't have their cutie marks, nopony would think they are better than others. A sort of twisted equality philosophy, if you think about it." Twilight clarifies before finishing up her little story, "When we managed to put our plan into motion, we were able to get the townsfolks their cutie marks back and exposed Starlight's plan. Even then, she was able to get ahead of us and might have escaped with our cutie marks if the town didn't help us."

"Talk about a close call there." Sunset comments on that last part, "So, your first map adventure was freeing a town from a crazy unicorn... first the name, now even her plan has some similarities to mine."

Twilight wondered what she meant before making the parallels herself, "Oh... that is weird."

"I know, right?" Sunset then opens the fridge door, "I'm thirsty. Want anything?"

"Just water is fine." Twilight wasn't as thirsty as her, so... yeah.

Sunset then pulls out a water bottle and a bottle of orange juice before closing the fridge door, "Here you go." She said, handing Twilight the water bottle.

"Thanks." Reaching out for it, she sees that her hand is instinctively balled up to look like a hoof. Remembering her practice, she opens her hand to properly take the bottle.

Sunset lets out a friendly chuckle after watching her friend do all that, "Must be hard adjusting to that body sometimes."

"Oh you know, being a pony with hooves and magic isn't the same as a human with hands and fingers." Twilight then delicately twists the cap as she remembers the last time ended in a spilled mess, successfully opening it after a few secs.

Sunset then casually twists her bottle cap off before the two took a sip of their respective drinks, enjoying the moment of silence before she spoke once more.

"Have you ever played a video game?" Her sudden question made Twilight pause in motion for a second.

"Oh, you mean like that game Rainbow and Applejack were playing over at Pinkie's house?" She recalls from the last time she was over here.

"Yeah, that. If you played some, it'll definitely help with your hand-eye coordination and reflexes." Sunset has a good point there.

Twilight likes the sound of that as not only would it help with her body here, but also back at home if she has to resort to physical actions. "You wouldn't mind teaching me how to play?"

"I knew the challenge when I asked." Sunset admits, "Don't worry, we'll start simple."

Only the light from the sun was shining over the horizon when they started their gaming session that then went into a long evening as the two finds themselves enjoying their time together, exchanging small stories of misadventures as they competed for the best score. Once they had their fun, the duo slipped into their pajamas and then into their beds to sleep the cold night away.

**And done! Wow, that took a bit longer to write. Sorry if this ain't as long as the previous prologue, but this is just to finish up what last chapter ended on.**

** I wasn't exactly sure on how to write the snowball fight scene, so I kept it short enough to avoid any unnecessary fluff. It's also been awhile since Trixie was in the story, so I added her in for a bit of extra fun. Believe it or not, I honestly had more fun writing Sunset and Twilight this time in their scene.**

**Knowing that, the next couple of chapters are gonna be with a smaller group of the cast to have more interesting combinations for interactions.**

**And since both Twilights are in this story, I'll be using nicknames for who I'm writing for in a scene. Human Twilight is referred to 'Sci-Twi' and Princess Twilight is... I was thinking 'Pri-Twi' if I want to use a similar-sounding nickname. Tell me what you think.**

**Also, I recently posted my third Sonic x MLP story attempt that I'm doing as a side project called Sonic Chronicles: Land of Harmony if you're curious. This will still be my main story, so don't worry about that.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and see you next chapter!**


	13. C12: Just Another Day

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. Let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: At this point, I'm just repeating myself. Glad I'm consistent with it, though! We shall see.**

**Thanks for the feedback, guys! I appreciate it. Now, let's jump back in.**

**Chapter 12: Just Another Day**

"Come on, man. You know I like those stat buffs with my food." Visor muttered in his sleep as he slowly turns over to the edge of his bed, reaching out for his imaginary food before falling off.

His entire body fell off onto the floor, waking him up rather painfully as he groans. "Why do I keep doing that..." His voice was muffled as his face was pressed against the floor.

Now having nothing to cover it, his nightwear is shown in full as he wore a red t-shirt and gray sweatpants. Getting up onto his feet, he walks across the room over his black circular rug he placed in the center before going out his door to the bathroom.

From there, his morning routine continues as usual with a shower, changing into his school uniform, and heading to the kitchen for breakfast. He wasn't used to how quiet it was as his mom was still at Camp Everfree, though she did call him last night about coming home after today. Times like these that he's thankful for her teaching him how to cook at a young age.

Taking out a couple of ingredients and turning on the stove before putting on an apron, he spent a couple of minutes making scrambled eggs with brown rice and places two slices of bread in the toaster for- well, toast. It didn't take much longer until his breakfast was cooked just right, setting the stove to simmer as the toast popped out of the toaster.

He then hears his phone vibrate as he took off the apron, placing it on a hook that was on the nearby wall before picking it up. Seeing a text from Levin, he opens the message box to see what's up.

_L: Ain't hanging out after school today. Was thinking of meeting with Twilight's twin, try and break her out of the shy shell._

_V: Any reason why we can't come along? Three is better than one._

_L: I think all three of us might be overwhelming for her. Best to go one by one._

_V: Good point. Good luck with that then, I have breakfast to eat._

Once he puts his phone in his pocket, he then puts his food on a plate to eat.

* * *

The sun was almost over the horizon entirely as Levin locked the door to his house, hopping on his bicycle to ride to school as usual. However, he goes from cruising to full speed, wanting to put his plan into motion. Taking a faster route this time, he was the second one of the three to reach the school as he goes into the parking lot and locks his bicycle securely on the bike rack.

As if by luck, he was able to catch a glimpse of who he was looking for as she goes through the school doors and gives chase. A casual jog is fast enough to watch where he's going and keep up as he went through the doors before they closed completely.

"Come on, I know I saw you just now." Levin mutters to himself as he looks around through the hallways.

Since school hasn't started yet, the halls aren't very crowded to walk through as he kept the pace. Seeing her again turn a corner, he speeds up a bit more to catch up and reaches the corner soon after. Turning the corner, he sees... no one around.

"That's weird, I could have s-" He cuts himself off as he sees a nearby door slightly ajar.

He doesn't remember a storage door being there, making him all the more curious as he walks on over. Gently pushing the door only a bit, he sees what seems to be a personal room since it wasn't like an average classroom as it had various electronic equipment.

"Go get it!" His eyes landed on Sci-Twi as she tosses a ball in his direction for a small puppy.

The small puppy was quite different from other breeds that he has seen as the colors of the fur, ears and eyes reminds him more of a baby dragon you see in cartoons honestly. He was a bit too focused guessing on what breed the puppy was that he didn't notice that the little guy noticed him until it was sniffing at his feet.

"Levin?" Hearing his name, the door opens up more to show Sci-Twi as she picks up her puppy.

"Oh hi, hey. I was looking for you." His mouth moved faster than his mind processing what he means properly, "I was- didn't mean-"

"It's all right, I should have made sure the door was closed all the way." Sci-Twi was able to connect the dots on what he was saying.

He lets out a small nervous chuckle in response before shifting the attention to her puppy, "Cute little guy you have here. What's his name?"

"Oh, this is Spike. I bring him here for pet research. Ya know, science stuff!" He notices that she added the last few words a bit quickly, but didn't want to pry on it.

"Makes sense." He then looks at Spike, "Nice to meet you, I'm Levin."

The pup simply wags his tail as Levin pets his head. The school bell then rang, signalling the first period of class is about to begin.

"Uh oh, we're gonna be late!" She then turns around to place Spike down, "Be good while I'm gone, OK?"

The pup barks once in response, Sci-Twi petting his head before stepping out of the room and closing the door.

"So, is that your own little school lab?" Levin just realizes that the equipment may not belong to the school staff.

"Pretty much. Dean Cadence knew I worked best on my own, so she allowed me to use this room for my schoolwork." She briefly explains before remembering something, "So, why were you looking for me earlier?"

Levin immediately remembers why he was here this early as the two walk to their class, "Oh, right! Well um... since we are history partners for the time being, I was thinking of us getting to know each other a bit better."

Sci-Twi was rather surprised by this. The few times she was paired up with a partner in class, it was just that. The other person would barely speak to her unless it was needed. So, the fact that someone is willing to make conversation with her strikes her as odd.

"R-Really? Not that I mind, but... why do you want to?" She was still processing his request as she asked this.

"A couple of my friends were in a similar position like you and, um..." He pauses mid-sentence as he briefly remembers the times he met Shade and Visor, continuing shortly after. "My dad used to tell me, when I was younger, that a good deed or even a simple smile can make someone's day. Ever since then, I try to do just that with everyone I meet."

"Your dad is... quite optimistic." Sci-Twi couldn't help but be a bit skeptical about the advice, but was impressed that he took that to heart.

"He was, yeah." Levin agrees with her there before shaking his head a bit, "Anyways, what do you think? Wanna be friends?"

Sci-Twi stopped in her tracks this time as he does the same, looking straight at him with an analytical stare. Sure he was friendly when they first met, but she just figured it would be same as the others. However, something about him seems rather... genuine as he spoke to her. She couldn't pinpoint as to why, which makes her even more curious.

Levin was more occupied with his thoughts as he thinks back to yesterday, how her twin sister was more outgoing around friends she had made with the Rainbooms. He knows that same twin would prefer meeting her alone, but the very least he can do is try and have the shy one be more sociable. Plus, he has a feeling that they may have a thing or two in common.

"I-I don't know..." She is understandably hesitant on this as her only friend was Spike, so she doesn't really know how to interact with other students.

Seeing this, Levin lets out a small sigh before talking. "Sorry for being so forward. If you don't want to, I understand-"

"No!" To both of their surprises, she denies this in a louder than normal manner, which she realizes to her embarrassment. "I-I mean, it's not that."

Levin blinks once before putting a hand on his hip, "Really? Then, what is it?"

"It's just that... I never had anyone say that to me before, so I'm not really sure on what to say." She admits.

A hint of sadness hit him after hearing that, "No one, huh?" He mutters before speaking up, "Well, I'll accept the fact that I'm the first one to say that to you."

Again, she finds herself confused at his behavior with a face to match. More questions start to form in her head as she thinks that this can be a great learning experience. Wait, there's her answer! She just needs to be more hands-on if she wants the answers she seeks.

Finally reaching a decision, she lets a small smile form on her face before speaking. "All right, I accept."

"Awesome!" Levin was ecstatic about this before realizing something, "Oh shoot, we're gonna be late for class!"

With that realization, the two quickly made their way to history class before the bell rung.

* * *

"I really need to stop gaming late on school nights!" Shade scolded himself as he speeds down the sidewalk on his skateboard.

He finds himself actually running late for school this time, which was rare for him to do. His aunt figured that if he didn't wake up on time, it was because he was doing some late night gaming. Knowing that she can't afford to be late for work, she leaves a note and breakfast for him before leaving for him to see. Doesn't make it any less silly, but he digresses for now.

He maneuvers around any walkers as he was going down an incline, gaining more speed before an unexpected person walks out from around the corner that lead to an alleyway. Unable to safely stop, he shouts as loud as he could to the man.

"Look out!" The man heard him, but wasn't fast enough to move out of the way.

The moment Shade blinked, he suddenly finds himself stopped and unharmed as the man was holding him and his skateboard in the air without much strain.

"Thanks for the warning." The man casually responds with as he sets Shade back on his feet before handing him his board.

Shade simply stared at the man in shock as he took his board back, "H-How did you-"

"I caught ya. Didn't you see it?" The man seemed a bit confused at what he meant.

Shade wasn't able to process that response entirely as the stranger started to walk pass him. He didn't get far as Shade called out to him, "Wait!"

The stranger turns around to face him, "Yes?"

Shade had a feeling that he won't get a straight answer about what just happened, but he'll at least do the next best thing. "Thanks, um..."

The stranger was quiet for a moment before speaking, "Aeon."

"S-Shade." He returns the greeting, making the man smirk a bit.

"Nice to meet you, kid. I'll see you later." Ending his sentence with a simple tipping of his hat, the man then continued on his way.

Shade then quickly pulls out his phone to check the time... only to have his jaw drop to the floor upon seeing it.

"It's eight twenty-five!?"

**And done! A shorter chapter this time around, been a bit busy lately. Plus, I wanna ended it on a comedic note this time, change it up a bit.**

**Anyways, I did Levin's and Shade's morning routine, but I haven't done Visor's until now. I found that a bit weird, but better late than never.**

**Due to Sci-Twi's cameo getting a good response, I figured to do a more direct approach with her character. I know this may change quite a bit for later, but I have ideas that can at least cover for it. More on that later.**

**Haven't seen Aeon for awhile, so a small meeting with one of the Detective Trio should be good for now.**

**Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!**


	14. C13: Common Ground

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic! Let's see what we got this time:**

**johannvanguard: Glad to hear it! Funny that you mention them.**

**guest: Glad that you do, here's another chapter.**

**Also, I have recently posted a Halloween special called Night of the Storm if you guys wanna give that a shot.**

**Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. With that said, let's dive in!**

**Chapter 13: Common Ground**

"Heh, perfect." Aria casually steps off the dance pad as her high score shows itself on the screen.

While her sisters have their own places to relax, she goes to the arcade for some 'old-school gaming' as the people nowadays say. One thing they do have in common is a competitive side, so what better way to do that than beat others at video games?

Looking at the clock on the wall nearby, she was a bit caught off guard to see that it was already the afternoon. Time flies when you're perfecting your skills.

"Aria! I didn't know you go here." A second surprise came her way as she turns her head towards the voice, revealing that it belonged to Visor.

"I should ask you the same thing." Of all the times she came here, she never saw him enter the arcade until now.

"I don't come in here as often as I want to, got business to take care of when they come up." He explains before having a big smile on his face, "But not today!"

Aria didn't mind this at all. Since she now knows he goes here, he can be an easy opponent to compete with whenever he's available.

"Well, you came in just in time. Mind being my partner on Dance Dual?" She offers, though it was more of a demand in her mind.

"Oh wow, I haven't played that game in a couple of months." He had a brief memory of playing it before turning around to the machine, "I wonder if anyone beat my high scores."

"Wait a second." She stopped him in his tracks before continuing, "What high scores?"

"Believe it or not, I actually held the highest on some of the songs in the game." Visor didn't want to brag, but he was stating a fact.

Aria remembers seeing the name for those scores, "You're the one called 'Knight'?"

Visor kinda forgot he named himself that, "Y-Yeah. I usually use an alias when I play a game, that being one of the more common ones."

She shakes her head a bit at his forgetfulness before speaking, "Well, how about you put that skill to the test?"

"A challenge, huh? All right, you're on!" With his acceptance, the two duke it out on the dance game floor.

The two started with a somewhat slow song for a warm-up, helping to get Visor in the groove while Aria is able to see what she's up against. It wasn't very long either, lasting only about a minute and a half before ending.

"Woo, nothing but a good beat to wake you up." Visor was admittedly a bit tired from school, so he was thankful to be fully awake now.

"Good, now I'll have an actual challenge." Aria sends a casual taunt, which he chuckles at as she selects the next song.

The next song was much faster than the previous, catching him off guard a bit as he tries to keep up with her. Their little performance was now attracting a small crowd as the notes was steadily becoming more rapid in the middle, making the pair look like they have lightning feet hitting the arrows on the dance pads. By the time the song finished, the two were catching their breaths for a bit.

"Judging by how you played, this is one of your favorites?" Visor pointed out from what he saw at the corner of his eye.

"Oh yeah. Always bring in the strays." Aria gestures to the crowd to prove her point.

"A true sign of a show-off. All right, two can play at that game." He realizes the real game as it was his turn to choose another song.

* * *

Taking a sip of her tea, Adagio was sitting in a booth at a small diner for her relaxation. She made sure that she arrive in the morning when the establishment opens to get the most out of the silence before any more customers showed up, allowing her to relieve her stress without much interference.

Hearing the small bell chime from the entrance door opening, she usually takes a glance at who walks in before going back to her business. This time, she had to do a double take, seeing that Levin's friend Shade has recently entered. He took a look around at the seats for somewhere to sit before making eye contact with her, a small smile forming on his face as he walks over.

"Hey there. Came here for some alone time?" He didn't fail to notice her sitting by herself.

"Yes, mainly to relieve my stress." She answers rather casually before taking a sip of her tea.

"Oh. I didn't mean to interrupt-" She cuts him off with a simple hand raise, "No, you're fine. Right now, I'm just having another cup of this green tea that they have that's really good honestly."

"Oh yeah, the tea here is top notch." He agrees with her there as he had it before.

Adagio then notices that he was just standing there, "Do you want to sit? I won't bite."

Shade had a small smirk at her little comment as he took a seat across from her, "Funny."

This had the waiter walk over to the two, notepad in hand. "Is he with you?"

"He is now." Adagio nonchalantly answers before looking at Shade, "Want anything?"

"Uh, same as yours is fine." He really just came in to say hi to her, so he really didn't have anything in mind for ordering.

Once the waiter wrote that in and left, the two simply sat there in silence for a moment. Shade admittedly wasn't comfortable enough around the three without feeling a bit uneasy. Wasn't sure if it was a gut feeling or whatever, but he kept that in the back of his mind as he starts the conversation.

"So, how was your day so far?" It wasn't an interesting topic by far, but it's better than nothing.

"...Peaceful. Just been sitting here all day, drinking tea." Adagio wasn't lying about that... she had a LOT of stress to get rid of.

"Sounds kinda boring." He was straightforward with that response, which she rolls her eyes at.

"Of course it is."

The waiter then came over to give Shade a cup of green tea as well, "Here you are."

"Thanks." Shade simply said, which the waiter nods at before walking away.

He then takes a sip of his tea, which he enjoys the taste of. "Nice."

"I bet school was more boring." She assumes, getting the conversation going again.

"Eh, it was all right. Visor went to the arcade without me and Levin is hanging out with Twilight."

At the mention of Twilight, Adagio took a deep breath to stay calm before responding back.

"Of course. If he wants to learn more about the Rainbooms and such, then whatever." Her comment made Shade raise an eyebrow before realizing what she meant.

"Oh no, not THAT Twilight. Her twin sister that goes to Crystal Prep with us." He clarifies for her.

Adagio had a blank stare as she remembers their conversation with the Rainbooms back at the Sweet Shoppe. More than likely, that detail was something she zoned out on as she was mainly thinking of the fact on how the boys were actually aware of the Battle of the Bands.

Realizing that she was quiet for a bit too long, she snaps out of it to respond. "O-Oh right, her. How nice of him."

"Yup. Visor told me that he was gonna try to break her out of her shell. But..." He drifted off under his breath, which caught her attention as he took another sip of his tea.

"Shade, are you implying that he has some sort of ulterior motive?" She was quite curious on if Levin was actually more than meets the eye.

However, his response to her question... wasn't what she expected. Shade had to keep a hand close to his mouth to avoid letting out a laugh, leaning against the back of his seat for a good minute as Adagio simply stares in confusion.

Once he recovers by catching his breath, he corrects her on what he meant. "I meant that he may 'like like' her."

"You mean he likes her?" Adagio wasn't really getting the full picture with what he's saying.

"No, like like." Seeing her raise an eyebrow at this, he decides to be blunt. "You know, a crush."

"...Into what, a fine pastry?"

For the second time, Shade was stifling his laughter at her joke, even though she still doesn't know what he means. He took only a few seconds to recover this time before answering.

"No. I mean, it seems that he has an interest in her." Adagio finally got what he meant with a face to match before bringing up a point, "Oh come on, he barely even knows her."

"I know, just teasing the guy." Shade admits, "Still, if it gets his mind off the magic stuff for awhile, I welcome it."

She doesn't really believe all that he says, but didn't feel like prying anymore as the two took a sip of their teas respectively. Adagio then had an idea pop into her head, which might be the best one she had yet.

"So, this Twilight that goes to your school doesn't have any friends?" She wants to make sure she heard that part right.

"She is the 'introvert genius outcast', so to speak." He casually repeats from what he heard before.

"Interesting..." She tries her best to suppress a smirk before taking another sip of her tea.

* * *

The snow has stopped falling for the time being as Levin and Sci-Twi walks towards the museum to get some more info on their history project. She would have taken Spike with them, but pets aren't allowed inside the museum. The two had changed to their winter clothes at this point, the former being the same as before.

Sci-Twi was wearing a deep purple buttoned-up coat with a white star on the back over a light blue sweater, deep blue gloves, blue plaid pants, and knee-high purple laced boots.

After entering through the doors, Levin casually starts up a conversation. "I'm surprised that you go to the museum instead of the internet."

"Actually, I always go here for any new exhibits they showcase." She clarifies on why she does.

"Understandable. New discoveries can make someone's mind curious." He agrees as the two walks towards where the mystical magic tour was being held.

It wasn't very big as it only had a few artifacts on display in total for the people to see, but Levin was surprised to recognize a familiar face looking around the displays before seeing the two.

"Hey!" Sci-Twi sees another girl come over to them with a smile on her face as Levin responds back.

"Sonata? I didn't know you like historic artifacts." He was more curious about her business here.

"Well, since Adagio and Aria were doing their own thing, I decided to go see the art exhibit when I got distracted by this exhibit." She rubs the back of her head soon after, chuckling a bit before seeing Sci-Twi.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds as Levin introduces the two, "Sonata, meet Twilight. Twilight, Sonata."

Sonata notices the differences that this Twilight has over the one she knew as she holds out her hand, "Nice to meet you!"

"N-Nice to meet you too." Sci-Twi was still awkward with her handshake method, which Sonata didn't really notice as Levin speaks up.

"What caught your eye in here anyways?"

"Honestly, everything did. The first one I saw was... that one." Sonata pointed over to what she was talking about, which turns out to be the cane the two were researching. Or more specifically, a document about its existence.

"Why am I not surprised..." Levin mainly said himself as he lead the way over to the display case.

Sci-Twi took this time to have some small talk with Sonata, "So, you're interested in art?"

"More like I'm beginning to get back into it. I have really nice dreams sometimes that I never remember for long, so I draw little pictures of them so I don't forget. Sadly, most of the drawings were lost when we got kicked out of our last place." Sonata gives a rather detailed answer to her question, which Sci-Twi was a bit surprised at.

"Well, that's nice to know." The latter wasn't really sure how to react to that.

"Sorry, I sometimes ramble for no reason. No idea why." Sonata admits.

The three have reached the display case as Levin reads the text on the document, which was nothing like what the online description said. "Wait, is this a new document they found?"

"Recently added, actually."

A fourth voice catches their attention as a stranger walks over with his left hand casually in his pocket, "Nice to see young people take an interest in history."

"Well, history projects are a good incentive." Levin remarks, which Sci-Twi gave him a stern stare as she retorts. "It shouldn't be the only reason..."

Sonata jumps in with a question for the stranger, "Do you know what it's talking about, then?"

"The Enlightened Eagle, a most curious cane if you think about it." He then walks over to the display case to reread it before summarizing it, "This one talks about the cane being able to actually absorb magical properties into itself, most likely working similar to a lightning rod or a solar panel."

"Whoa, no wonder people thought StarSwirl made it." Levin was rather impressed as Sci-Twi was more curious by asking an important question, "Does it say what the cane's made of?"

"Sadly, no. I bet good money that there is another document about it." The stranger was optimistic about it before seeing Levin taking notes, "Wait, are you actually doing a history project on it?"

"Yes, we are." Levin answers after finishing his notes before realizing something, "Not to be rude, but I forgot to ask who you are."

The stranger couldn't help but stifle a small laugh before answering, "You're all right. Name's Aeon."

"I'm Levin, that's Twilight and Sonata." Levin gestures to who's who, the girls simply waving in response.

Aeon simply tilts his fedora to acknowledge them, "Pleasure."

"I'm guessing you're an archaeologist?" Levin honestly couldn't tell from his attire if that was the case.

"Frankly, I prefer the term 'scientist'." Aeon corrects him.

Sonata was thinking about that line he just said, reminding her of some other time she had heard it. "Wait, don't I know you from somewhere?"

Levin and Sci-Twi were curious about that part, which Aeon then remembers what she was talking about. "Hmm... sorry, I don't think we have."

"Oh OK, I must have mistaken you for someone else that dresses like you." Sonata shrugs off her accusation, but Levin and Sci-Twi weren't losing interest in that.

"Wait, you met someone like him before?" The former was more concerned as evident in his tone of voice.

"Well, remember when Adagio said that someone might have selfish intentions with magic?" Sonata recalls from their conversation with the Rainbooms.

While Sci-Twi was confused about what she is talking about, Levin was able to piece together the details before turning towards where Aeon is standing... or was standing. The three were confused on how he disappeared without them noticing, but can't really do much about it now.

"So, was he who you meant?" Levin just wants to make sure, not wanting to assume.

"Maybe. Like I said, I'm not sure if it was him or someone else." Sonata was still confused from earlier, not really giving a clear answer.

"Hmm, guess we better keep an eye on him." He concludes for the situation before another voice spoke up.

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Sci-Twi was standing there with a stumped look on her face as the two were talking, now having a whole list of questions to ask.

Seeing that she heard that whole thing, he decides to tell her what's up. "It's kinda a long story."

"Yay, storytime!" Sonata was excited about that part.

Of course he has to exclude the obvious details like Pri-Twi, but he personally doesn't want their friendship to start on lies. With that, the three went to the art exhibit as Levin started from the beginning.

**And done! Alrighty, a Dazzlings-focused chapter!... mostly.**

**I can see Aria playing games, so an arcade is up her alley. Add Visor and we got a fun time.**

**Considering how much of a handful Aria and Sonata can be, Adagio needs someplace to go and relax. I'm stretching it in terms of the time length, but she gotta have a lot of stress to get rid of. Add Shade and we got a cool conversation with an extra detail that I found interesting to include.**

**I wanted Levin and Sci-Twi to have their project be the start of their bond, so doing more research on it makes sense. The museum part was added to have Aeon and Levin meet at last, but I wanted Sonata in there to complete the trio for the chapter. However, I realize that this can be a way to establish how Sci-Twi becomes curious about magic, if a small detail in an earlier chapter didn't do it.**

**Overall, this came together nicely. Again, if you're interested, check out my EG Halloween Special. A bit more experimental than usual, but I think it came out pretty well.**

**Thanks for reading and see you next chapter!**


	15. C14: Conflict Within

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. Now, what do we have this time?**

**johannvanguard: That's good to hear, the only thing I had a bit of trouble with is that each scene made sense for the characters used. Glad to hear that they came out great. We shall see, won't we?**

**Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's get going!**

**Chapter 14: Conflict Within**

Levin didn't want to spent too long telling her everything, so he summarizes it the best he could without taking out too much as the three walk through one of the galleries. "To think, we met these girls that turn out to be witnesses to seeing the rainbow phenomenon in such a short span of time!"

Sci-Twi was listening intently the entire time, having more questions by the time the story reached the end. However, one of them nags at her all throughout that she had to ask.

"Magic... is real?" She doesn't see how that would be the case, due to her scientific mindset. "I mean, say that it was real. Wouldn't it be known to the general public by now?"

"You really think that would be the result of such a discovery? If it got into the wrong hands, the bad guys can hide that knowledge and... use it for stuff!" He counters her point with a more likely possibility, at least in his head.

"When you put it like that, it sounds like a cartoon show." Sonata was listening at certain parts, but was more focused on the paintings during the story until now.

Levin thought about what he just said and sees what she means, "Kinda does, yeah."

"So I get from this is..." Sci-Twi speaks up to get their attention as she breaks down the general story she got.

"You saw this 'magic' and wanted to figure out what caused it to appear in the first place, not considering any other possibilities like special effects for a movie or a dream like hers, and dragged your friends into it despite their doubts, only to then recently find out that six other girls saw what you saw without any evidence?"

Sci-Twi wasn't really wrong with that summary as Levin thought about it before answering, "Well, yeah..."

"He isn't lying about it." To his surprise, Sonata spoke up in his defense. "Magic does exist."

"I mean-" Sci-Twi slowly shook her head before continuing, "It isn't that I think it is a lie, just something about the story doesn't make sense to me."

Levin sees her point, but the story he told made sense to him. Maybe a better picture would help, wait-

"Would this help?" Levin reaches into his pocket to pull out his paper that has the drawings he drew, showing it to Sci-Twi.

She recognizes the paper as she takes it, unfolding the piece of paper to reveal the ones she saw before.

"Is there a reason why CHS and the amphitheater are here too?" She questions, only knowing half of what she's looking at.

"Those are the places that the magic appeared at. Thanks to the girls, we were able to narrow it down to the school being the more likely place for it." Levin answers from what they were able to gather.

"I knew it!" She mutters under her breath, thankfully quiet enough so that the two didn't quite hear her.

"You say something?" Levin notices her reaction, but couldn't place what it was for.

"Well, I saw this when we paired up in history class. When you told me that story, I was thinking it was related to this." She was curious about what they meant beforehand, giving him his paper back in the process.

"Oh right, I did have that out on my desk." Levin remembers his usual routine at school as he sheepishly rubs the back of his head, taking the paper back before folding it up and putting it in his pocket.

While the two continue with their conversation, Sonata was intrigued by the colorful paintings until her eyes stop on one in particular.

"Wait, that's-" Sonata mutters to herself as she was seeing a rather gorgeous painting of... them?

The painting features their siren forms flying over the sea with their red gems emitting their signature glow over what seems to be a large ship for sailors under a cloudy day.

As if by reflex, she places her hand over where her gem used to be. Remembering her missing necklace saddens her quite a bit, unknowingly being deep in her thoughts as Levin and Sci-Twi notices her little disappearance.

"Sonata?" Levin casually calls her name as the two walks on over.

Sci-Twi sees the painting that she was looking at, "I've seen this before, these are the sirens of historical myths."

"Oh yeah, the singing creatures of the sea." Levin recalls from a lesson in history class before having another brain fart, "I forgot, what was the gems for again?"

"It allows us to use magic to sing, causing conflict between anyone that hear it." The two were surprised at Sonata's answer to his question.

"That's right." Sci-Twi was thinking the same thing for her answer.

"Not bad, Sonata." Levin compliments her as he pats her on the back.

Upon feeling the pat, she realizes what she said and plays along with it. "Y-Yeah, thanks. Guess that's what it feels like to be inspired."

"Really? That's great! How about we get some food to celebrate? My treat!" Levin offers, which Sonata happily accepts. "Yes! I demand tacos!"

"I-I'm feeling a bit hungry myself." Sci-Twi wouldn't mind eating right now, despite the choice in food.

With the three on the same page, they went to exit the art gallery with Sonata lingering behind a little bit. She was surprised that the two didn't catch her slip, which made more thoughts pop into her head.

Did they even hear that part? Did they ignore it entirely? Or worse, did they connect the dots and figured it out without her telling them directly?

"Sonata, come on!" Levin's voice snaps her out of her thoughts, seeing the distance that was made from her slow speed.

"Sorry!" She calls back as she sped up to catch up to them.

* * *

Sunset was currently talking with Pri-Twi as the two were walking around the mall, mainly as a small tour for the latter since she has yet to see it.

"So, this place has multiple stores and restaurants under one roof?" Pri-Twi was rather impressed by this as she looks at her surroundings.

"Yup. It's also quite popular as a hangout spot on weekends for students and stuff." Sunset casually adds on top of that.

Pri-Twi looks over the railing from the second floor, seeing people walk by coming and going through the various stores nearby.

"Do everyone come here everyday?" She wonders about, which Sunset answers. "Not exactly. This place can be tiring for most people."

Pri-Twi got what she was getting at, "Do people shop that much?"

"You'd be surprised." Sunset briefly remembers one of the shopping trips she went on with Rarity as those words left her mouth.

"Guess I would be." Pri-Twi tries to imagine what that would be like, but couldn't recall anything like that for her.

Sunset simply lets out a small smile at her friend's honesty before getting a strange feeling. She had felt this from time to time, but now it feels stronger than before. Looking at Pri-Twi, she was able to make the connection and realize what the feeling might be.

"Hey, Twilight." She gets her attention for the moment before continuing, "It's been awhile since I've seen Equestria. Has anything change about it?"

Pri-Twi was rather surprised at this, "A lot actually. Why do you ask?"

Sunset lets out a small giggle, "Guess I'm a little bit... homesick, you know?"

"Oh. Well don't worry, me and my friends are taking care of it." Pri-Twi reassures her, but that wasn't what she meant.

"I mean, what about Princess Celestia? Is she doing all right?"

"Ooh. She's doing fine. Ruling Equestria as usual alongside Princess Luna."

"That's good to hear..." Sunset casually crosses her arms as she said that, breaking eye contact with her to look elsewhere.

Looking down over the railing, she saw two familiar faces down on the first floor walking by. Pri-Twi took notice of this and saw who she was looking at, deciding to call out to them to get their attention.

_Two minutes earlier..._

Shade opens one of the doors that lead into the mall for Adagio to walk through, "So, why are we here exactly?"

"Honestly, it's just to get out of the cold for a bit." He wasn't wrong about that, it was very cold outside today.

She would be lying if she didn't agree about that, "Whatever."

The two then starts walking as Shade continues their conversation from earlier, "Anyways, you said that you prefer the villains over the heroes. What about the anti-heroes?"

"Eh. I like that they aren't as goody two-shoes as the hero, but most of them are mainly on the good side anyways. There are only a few that stay neutral or better yet bad after their debut." She gives a brief explanation for her answer to the question.

"True, but you never really know if they ARE on the good side or not due to their methods. That makes them interesting to watch, which is also one of the reasons why they are usually the fan favorites in their series." Though, he does brings up a pretty good counterpoint.

"Fan favorites?" Adagio was somewhat familiar with the term, but didn't know what it meant. Either way, she did like the sound of that.

"Yup. For example, in the new game Lethal Forces, Lance is the main protagonist with Eon being the main antagonist. However, you got the rest of the cast such as Blaze and Quake who are anti-heroes in their own ways." Shade continues on with his point by bringing up an example.

Adagio wasn't very familiar with games, but listens more so out of curiosity. "How so, exactly?"

He was rather glad that she wanted to hear more, "Blaze is mainly there for the thrills, wanting to face strong opponents for the fun of it. Quake enters to avenge his fallen family as his archenemy Verglas had also entered the tournament. I would say more, but that would be spoiler territory."

Out of the two, she was more interested in Quake than Blaze due to personally knowing the idea of vengeance over losing something close to you.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the two heard a voice call out to them, "Shade! Adagio!"

The two looks around before averting their eyes upwards, seeing Pri-Twi and Sunset waving at them.

"Oh, hey!" Shade calls back with his own wave while Adagio simply looks at them.

"We'll come down to you!" Sunset tells them before she and Pri-Twi went on over to the escalator nearby.

"How convenient..." Adagio mutters under her breath as she should have realized the downside of the boys' luck.

"Didn't think they be here today." Shade on the other hand had a small smile on his face as he turns over to Adagio, seeing her expression in the process.

She realizes what he saw and quickly forces a small smile, but it proved fruitless as he spoke. "What was that face?"

"What face?" She kept the smile on her face as she tries to avoid the question.

Shade crosses his arms over his chest with a skeptical gaze, only for them to get distracted again.

"What are you two doing here?" Pri-Twi was the first to speak with a simple question.

"Just walking around, getting out of the cold for a bit." Shade casually answers, "What about you two?"

"I was showing her around, helping her to learn more about the town." Sunset answers that as she puts her hands on her hips.

"Hope you're enjoying yourself, Twilight. Canterlot has a lot to see." He briefly informs her before turning his head towards Adagio, "Ain't that right, Adagio?"

"Yes it does." She was to the point with her words in response.

Sunset was a bit curious about Adagio's mood, but didn't dwell on it as Pri-Twi spoke. "Don't worry, I'm having fun thanks to Sunset."

"Thanks, I try." She was grateful for the compliment.

Adagio rolls her eyes at the friendliness of the two, mainly since she's still getting used to being around them.

Sunset caught this and decides to have a small talk with her. However, she has to get the other two to go somewhere else for the time being.

"Hey, Shade. You mind showing Twilight around some more? I need to rest my feet for a bit." It wasn't a good excuse, but it was something.

He didn't really buy that, but it was a good opportunity to know more about Pri-Twi. "I'm all right with that. Shall we, Twilight?"

"Uh, sure." Pri-Twi was a bit confused, but went along with it as Shade lead the way.

As the two left, that leaves Sunset and Adagio by themselves. The two had a small staredown for a second before the former spoke, "So, any reason being... you know?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea what you're referring to." Adagio was rather neutral with her tone of voice as she dismisses Sunset's accusation.

"Yeah, and rolling your eyes is a kind gesture." Sunset throws out a rather sarcastic comment in response.

Adagio took a deep breath to relax herself before speaking, "Sunset, I'm gonna level with you. When you changed from the bully queen of CHS to who you are now, I'd hardly recognized you at first. The stories I heard were rather... nasty, to say the least. Yet, I was supposed to believe that you two were one and the same?"

Sunset gave her a stern stare, not letting the reminders of her past get under her skin after hearing it so many times. She chose to stay quiet, which Adagio took notice of and simply continues.

"The reason why I was confused by this was simple. You discarded everything that you were. That ambition, that aggression, gone just like that. It was a gamble and it seems to have worked out in the end."

Sunset was now a bit confused, "What are you getting at exactly?"

"What I'm getting at is this. While you have erased your previous self, me and my sisters have not. We never had the chance to reconsider or reflect as everything after our defeat went downhill before our very eyes. It wasn't even a day before we had no place to live!"

Adagio was trying her hardest to keep it together, which Sunset was actually a bit surprised at. Still, she kept her mouth shut to listen as the former then took a seat nearby.

At this point, Adagio simply decides to just talk. "When you lost, you had them to fall back on. Even when we were banished here, we had our magic to get what we need. With that gone, we actually had to resort to selling our gems and barely got anything since they were nothing but shattered glass now!"

She crosses her arms over her chest as Sunset took the seat next to her, now intently listening as she told her story. Adagio took a moment to calm herself before practically forcing her next words out.

"No magic and no one else... we had to rely on each other to get through those long days and nights. I hated telling them that it will get better, even when I didn't think that it could..."

She didn't really know why she was still talking. She hated feeling this pain, yet it was coming back just as bad as before. And to make it worse, she was letting it out to one of the girls that caused this to happen! Many emotions just swelled up inside her as she places her hands upon her face to hide the inevitable tears.

On the other side, Sunset was stunned at what has transpired. Back then, she has only seen Adagio as one of the sirens from Equestria. Right now, she was looking at what remains now... A normal girl, no more different than themselves.

Now getting the full picture, Sunset places her hand on Adagio's back to comfort her as she heard little sniffles from behind her hands.

"You're right. It was short sighted of us to not realize what would have happened to you three. It may not mean much now, but I can say that we are sorry."

Adagio moves her hands away by a simple centimeter, just enough to show her tear-filled eyes as they look at Sunset who then brings up something. "And besides, isn't it better now ever since you've met the boys?"

She does have a good point. Upon meeting Levin, they now have a place to stay with food and clothes of their own to boot. Visor and Shade were a bit wary of them at first, but were now just as friendly to talk to. Strange that the night she swallowed her pride was when things finally changed.

Wiping away the tears remaining in her eyes and on her face, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle after all that. "It's funny, really. Despite not wanting to admit it... I can't imagine myself without them."

She mutters the last sentence, but Sunset got who she was talking about. "Guess you got everything out now?"

"As of now, yeah." Adagio was rather vague with her answer, "Guess I let my emotions bubble up inside more than I thought."

"Sometimes, it feels good to just talk things out. Helps puts things in perspective." Sunset speaks from experience on that part.

By the time their conversation came to a halt, the two then heard a whistle sound as they look towards where it was coming from.

"Sunset! You never told me you were a gamer!" Shade calls out as he and Pri-Twi were walking towards them, stopping a few feet away from the two.

She stood up as she spoke, walking towards him with a small smirk on her face. "I didn't think you would care about that."

"You kidding? Besides the guys, I don't really have anyone to play against. And no, I don't do online." He briefly clarifies his reaction why.

"Local co-op, huh? Nothing wrong with going old school." Sunset appreciates that kind of mentality.

While the two were talking, Pri-Twi notices Adagio sitting by herself and goes to see what was up. The latter took notice of her approach, but wasn't really fazed by this.

"Is something wrong?" Her question was to be expected, but Adagio was a little tired at this point and just went along with it.

"Not really. Sunset and I just talked for a bit." She states, which is a basic summary of the entire thing.

"Oh. Well, do you want to be left alone right now?" Adagio was surprised at Pri-Twi's question, sounding more sincere towards the way it was said rather than the words themselves.

She gave it some thought before answering, "...No, I don't mind."

Pri-Twi was a bit taken aback by this. She was expecting a yes or something along those lines, but Adagio wanting to talk? What small talk did the two have earlier? Not wanting to be stuck on that for too long, she gladly took the seat next to her.

"So... how are you?" Unfortunately, she didn't really have much of an icebreaker prepared.

A simple chuckle left Adagio's mouth before responding, "Right now, I'm feeling... fine."

* * *

The cold wind greeted Visor and Aria as they left the arcade, "Oh my sweet shivers!" Which the former will comment on out loud, "Almost as bad as you beating my high scores."

Aria had a smirk on her face as he said that, "Aww, come on. You handled it better than anyone else I played with."

"No wonder you're the loner in there." Despite his cold remark, he was shivering a bit from the cold air around them.

"Is the snow getting to you?" She finds it kinda funny, to be honest.

"It's the only thing that keeps me from enjoying the wintertime." He admits before directing the question back at her, "It doesn't bother you?"

"Please. It'll be a cold day down below when I get goosebumps from the snow." She confidently answers back.

Visor leans against his motorcycle as he processes whether or not she knows that she rhymed. Before he pointed it out though, another voice came into the conversation.

"Well, well, well. Didn't expect to see you two here." The two turn towards the direction of the talker, revealing herself to be Trixie once again.

"Hey, Trixie. Coming back from the magic store again?" Visor asked, noticing the small bag that she had in her right hand.

Trixie places her left hand on her hip as she corrects him, "If you must know, these are groceries. Even the greatest and most powerfulest has to eat."

"I'm sorry, 'powerfulest'?" Visor wanted to make sure he heard that right.

"Patent pending, don't steal." Turns out he did, doing his best as not to judge out loud.

"Sounds pretty stupid." Aria was blunt with her words on that.

Trixie sends a glare at her before reflexively shooting a comeback, "Not as much as your little attempted takeover of CHS."

Aria returns the glare back at her as Visor notices the tension in the air, "Either way, best to head on home before you have frozen food."

Trixie looks at him for a moment before agreeing, "Fine, fine. I have better things to do anyways."

With that as her last words, she continues on her way past the two. Once she was out of earshot, Visor comments on the conversation.

"Seriously, 'powerfulest'? Sounds like a five year old." He wasn't wrong about that.

Aria quietly agrees with that before shifting the topic, "Aren't you curious?"

He blinks once at what she meant, "Curious about what?"

"What she said. Her little comeback." Straight and to the point as she didn't break eye contact.

Visor recalls what Trixie said before answering, "As far as I know, it isn't really my business to say."

It was now Aria's turn to be confused, "And that means what exactly?"

"The way I see it, if something has happened in the past, it's there as a reminder to the person to not repeat." That is actually solid advice, which she did not expect from him whatsoever.

"Is that why they have a phase like 'history repeats'?" She got the general idea of what he's getting at.

"Exactly. So, she mentions something about you trying to take over CHS, right? Whatever went down during this attempt, you faced the consequences of that in the end." Visor goes on to explains, "You now have the choice of doing one of two things, resent or learn."

"Resent... or learn." Aria repeats under her breath before speaking up, "What you're saying is, I can either take revenge on those that put me here in the first place... or put it behind me and forget about it?"

He notices a hint of bitterness in her last words, but went ahead and clarified for her. "Yes and no. When I say learn, I don't mean to forget the event entirely. People usually assume that revenge is about getting even with the other person when it's really not."

"Then if it's not getting back at them, then what is it?" Aria was annoyed, but at the same time curious about the answer.

Visor looks at her for a moment before he answers, "Forgiveness."

Upon saying it, Aria was trying so hard not to get angry. Forgive them for what? Ruining their lives!? Making them lose everything they had!?

"No, no you're wrong." She was practically speaking through her teeth with those words.

Visor was actually not that fazed by her reaction, even continuing the conversation in a calm manner. "How am I wrong?"

Aria wanted to just scream about why he's wrong, but knew it wouldn't matter since he doesn't know the full story. After simmering down for about a full minute, she decides to tell him the whole thing without skipping anything.

The entire time she was telling the story, the two didn't notice the passing cars, the pedestrians walking by, the falling snow, or even the sun setting over the horizon as his eyes and ears were squarely focused on her. He didn't really react, not even a face or comment as she went on and on about what happened at the Battle of the Bands.

By the time she reaches the end, she felt like she ran a marathon as she tries hard to catch her breath in the cold air. Her eyes barely broke contact with his during the entire thing, now wanting any kind of reaction from him at this point. He blinks once, then again before opening his mouth.

"My question still stands." She could easily yell with such rage that she has suppressed inside for a long while... but didn't. His words had no clear tone to it, not condescending, not snarky, not even sympathy. Just making a statement.

"Revenge, vengeance, and justification. Good and evil don't matter when these words are used as anyone can say them in their favor." Visor is basically giving her a lecture at this point, "You can talk about being banished from another world, wanting the whole world to adore you three, the Rainbooms standing in your way to stop you, even the aftermath of what happened to you three that the girls may or may not even know about in the first place."

Aria can only stare at him at this point as it seems that he wasn't gonna be convinced, letting him continue to speak. "All that matters right now is what you choose to do at this point. Either resent them and lose even more just for short-term gain... or learn from this experience and become better people."

She crosses her arms over her chest before averting her eyes elsewhere, letting her think for the moment. Despite her desires, she finds herself rather conflicted about what to do right now. However, one question does stick out in her mind as her eyes look back at him.

"How do you even know all this?"

Visor stood up and walks over to her before he is within arms length, "I've seen it for myself. And as much as I want to forget it, all I can do is make sure it doesn't happen again." His voice has a somber tone, almost hearing it briefly quiver near the end.

He gently places his hand on her shoulder as he utters one more piece of advice, "Trust me, the only people you'll be harming... is yourselves."

It was almost instant, but she could have swore that she saw sorrow in his eyes before he removes his hand and walks back to his motorcycle. She stood there watching as he sits down on the main seat, about to put on his helmet before stopping him.

"Wait!" He places his helmet down in front of himself, waiting as she walks over to him.

Her steps felt a bit heavier than usual as she gets closer to him, stopping at the edge of the sidewalk as he doesn't even move with his eyes staring straight ahead.

"...Are you gonna tell you-know-who about this?" Visor figures that she would ask that, but implies it more for him telling Levin specifically.

He looks at her with a sincere expression before giving an answer, "No. You have my word on that."

Aria actually felt more relieved then she has been in awhile, letting a small smile through upon her face as she spoke. "Thanks."

It was then that they realized that night already fell upon the city, the surrounding streetlights lit up to prevent complete darkness as the clouds remained overhead even without the snowfall. There were very few pedestrians walking on the sidewalks and even a car or two passing by on the streets as he spoke.

"Time surely flies. Hop on, I'll give you a ride." He gladly offers, which she accepts without a second thought as she sits down on the back of the motorcycle.

Once he places the helmet on his head and the two were safely secure, he made sure there were no cars passing at the moment before going onto the street towards their destination.

**And done! Well, this got more interesting now. I'll admit, I feel like I'm taking a chance with the characters this time, but all I can do is wait and see if it works out.**

**Continuing from last chapter, I finish up the museum visit as Levin and Sci-Twi talking about magic with Sonata finding something familiar to her. Adding in a bit more lore as well, it makes sense that they would exist in the human world too in some capacity.**

**We then move back to Shade and Adagio as they meet up with Sunset and Pri-Twi back at the mall, where two of the four have some privacy to get on the same page. To be honest, I can imagine Adagio having all this pressure on her since she is the leader of the three. That and I felt Sunset was the better choice to understand how she feels.**

**Ending this off is back where we began, Visor and Aria. Here is another example of where I had a simple idea and it became bigger than I thought. Nothing wrong with that, since it still connects to the general idea of the conversation. Again, I can imagine Aria having all this pent-up emotion like Adagio since they are on the same page of revenge, but I did want at least one of the boys to learn the full story between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms.**

**Before I forget, I know it's already past it, but Happy Thanksgiving to all you guys! I hope you had a wonderful time with an equally delicious feast with your family and friends!**

**With that said, thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	16. C15: Ongoing Battles

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. Before we jump back in, let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: I greatly appreciate it, man! Just reading that the revenge talk was fantastic made my day. We shall see, won't we?**

**With that said, let us continue!**

**Chapter 15: Ongoing Battles**

Adagio was currently sitting on the living room couch in silence, lost in her thoughts as the talk from earlier today was fresh in her mind. After letting her doubts out to Sunset, she finds herself to be thinking more clearly now.

After their grand defeat, she was mainly focused on getting back at the Rainbooms when the opportunity arises by any means. Now that she is more calm, this allows her to realize something. Despite wanting their payback, what would be the point now?

She was unable to hear the front door open and close before being locked, the person entering being Aria as she puts her spare key in her pocket that Levin was nice enough to give one to each of them. Seeing her sister on the couch in a rather unexpected mood makes her curious as she casually walks over and sits down next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" Her question made Adagio jump a bit, most likely due to being deep in thought.

"Oh, it's just you." Realizing that it was just Aria, she felt a bit embarrassed at the small display.

"Yup, just me." Shrugging that off, she then repeats her question. "I'll say it again, what's on your mind?"

Adagio didn't see the point of lying to her, so she informs her of what happened earlier today. She kept it brief, as there wasn't much to mention besides the key points. When she finishes, Aria was rather surprised at this.

"This is really weird, I just had a talk with Visor about this whole revenge and morality thing." She mentions outright, which intrigues Adagio a bit.

"How did this come up?"

"When we left the arcade, Trixie showed up soon after. We talked with her for a moment where she mentions CHS. Once she left, Visor didn't really mind it."

"OK, wait. Did she mention the school itself or our takeover of it?" Adagio wants to make sure if that was what she meant.

"The takeover."

"And he didn't ask you outright?"

"No, I asked him why and he said it wasn't his business."

Adagio shouldn't really be surprised, he is one to respect privacy if she recalls correctly from their get-together at the Sweet Shoppe yesterday.

She then continues the conversation, "So from I'm getting right now is, you were the one that insisted on talking about the takeover?"

"I didn't want to, at first. I wanted to try and prove my point of getting even as revenge without telling him the story, but it would just go nowhere." Aria knows that being vague with her argument would just be dumb.

"And now, Visor knows who we are?" Adagio felt uneasy about this decision for obvious reasons.

"He told me he won't tell." That didn't really do much to ease her worries.

"How can you be sure?"

"He doesn't really have a reason to." Aria knew this by his reassurance.

After telling her story, Adagio is starting to see the similarities between the two. "Something is telling me that this may not be coincidental."

Aria was thinking that too, but then realizes something. "You think that Sonata also got a similar talk like this?"

"...If she did, I think they are onto us."

Right after she said that, the two heard the front door open with familiar voices entering the house.

"You lost the bet! You lost the bet!" Sonata's voice was first to be heard.

"I get it already. You seriously love tacos." Levin's voice retorts as the sound of the door closing and being locked was heard soon after.

"Of course! I always have room for them."

"Not gonna lie though, I thought Twilight was gonna throw up for a second when you were on that tenth taco."

During this conversation, Aria was quick enough to turn on the TV at this time as Adagio was too busy waiting for the duo to turn the corner. Once they did, she greeted them her usual way.

"What were you two doing?" A slight variation of her go-to question most of the time.

"We have returned from hanging out with Twilight. The one that goes to Crystal Prep." Levin answers as he then raises a bag up a bit in his right hand to show the two, "Just got back from eating too, leftovers if you two are hungry."

"You would not believe the place we went to!" Sonata hops into the empty seat on the couch as Levin walks to the kitchen, "They had the works! Tacos, nachos, burritos, even this really tasty nacho-taco thing-"

"Sounds messy." Adagio comments on the last thing she mentioned.

"It kinda is, but it's super good!" Sonata knew she would say that.

"Yo! I know you three don't eat much, but tomorrow's leftover night! Some of that food either gets eaten or thrown out for space!" Levin calls out to the three from the opened fridge.

"Oh yeah, we still have those desserts." Aria recalls what was left in there.

"I can't eat all those! I work hard to keep this figure!" Adagio has a reason as to why.

"I honestly forgot." Sonata admits as she sheepishly smiles to that.

Levin chuckles a bit at their responses as he closes the fridge, "Anyways, I'll be upstairs."

As he walks out of the kitchen to cross the living room, the three were watching him up until he reaches the top of the stairs into the hallway. Once he was, Adagio and Aria were focused on Sonata.

"OK, spill it." The former didn't waste time as she was direct.

"Spill what?" Sonata was understandably confused by what she was getting at.

"What you two talked about." Aria clarifies, but it didn't help her much.

"Like what? All we did was either playing around or getting to know Twilight more." The two weren't really sure that she was lying or not.

"Nothing about our past or having revenge?" Aria still persists with the questions.

"OK, why are we talking about this?" At this point, Sonata just wants an explanation.

As the three were talking, Levin exits his room as he remembers something he wanted to get downstairs. As he approaches the staircase, he stops in his tracks as he heard one of the girls speaking a bit louder than usual.

"You two are sounding ridiculous right now." To his surprise, that was Sonata who said that.

He moves back a bit and hid behind the wall, peeking around the corner as he sees the girls still on the couch talking.

"We're not. Even if this was coincidental, who's to say that you will get that talk too?" Adagio was trying to reason with her, which proves to be rather ineffective.

"Because this WAS a coincidence and you two are being paranoid?" Sonata was getting rather annoyed, something else that felt strange to see.

"Sonata, can you listen-" Aria was immediately cut off as Sonata got right up to her feet.

"NO, you listen!" The two were flabbergasted at this sudden outburst, "I'm DONE with this whole revenge thing you guys keep bringing up!"

Levin was now just as shocked as the other two, his ears directly focused on Sonata as she continues on.

"Ever since our defeat, you two are ALWAYS thinking about how to get back at the Rainbooms! How they ruined our lives, took away our magic and made us just a bunch of normal girls! Even now, when we finally have someone to take care of us, that's all you think about in those thick heads of yours!"

"Took away?" Levin couldn't believe what he heard, those times he heard her mention magic before were from that?

"And you wanna know the truth? I DON'T CARE!" She practically shouted out her answer to the two, her voice letting a small echo linger through the house for a moment before she continues. "I-I just want to forget it ever happened. If you want to go ahead and do it, then fine. Throw all this away! I don't want to go back on the streets..."

They could hear her voice start to shake near the end before she runs off towards the stairs. Levin quickly headed backwards into the darkness of the hallway to hide as Sonata came up the steps, going into her room and slamming the door close before locking it.

The entire house was silent, not even a sound from the evening air outside dared to break it as he stood there in the dark trying to process what has just transpired. Adagio and Aria were doing the same downstairs, staring up to where she had gone until slowly sliding back into their seats.

"...Wow. Didn't think she was capable of that." The latter mutters, still stunned from the outburst.

Adagio wasn't really sure what to really think right now. Turning off the rather quiet TV, she just decides to just head on up to bed and sleep for the night with Aria deciding to follow suit. Hearing them come up the steps, Levin retreats into his father's room at the end of the hall to stay out of sight as the two went to their rooms.

His heart sank a bit as he sees them slow down a bit when they went by Sonata's door before continuing on. Once the two went into their respective rooms, he exits out of the room with a look of sad confusion on his face.

"What was all that about?" His question won't be answered anytime soon. Not in the mood to get what he wanted downstairs anymore, he heads into his room and closes the door.

* * *

After a shower and a change into his night attire, Levin simply stares at the ceiling as he lays in his bed. The cold air didn't really bother him right now as his mind was still on what happened earlier, just barely hearing his phone buzzing on the nearby desk. Sitting up to see who it was, it turns out to be Visor trying to call him. Looking over at his clock, it was already midnight.

"A late night call? For what?" He was perplexed, but decides not to keep his friend waiting any longer as he answers his phone.

_"Geez, you were taking quite a bit. Fell asleep already?"_ Visor's voice was heard saying on the other line.

"No, couldn't sleep. And no, it's for a different reason." Levin was quick to denounce his friend's accusation of his usual late night sessions.

_"Let me guess, got your partner on the mind?"_ He did not expect that one, though it was more likely just to tease him.

"W-What? No, nothing like that." Visor chuckles a bit, knowing he got Levin a bit flustered with that one.

_"Just kidding with ya. Anyways, what's wrong?"_

Hearing that, he was a bit hesitant on whether or not he should even tell anyone about the girls' argument. It wasn't his business, but he can't just sit on the sidelines while they are down. Making his decision, he answers the question honestly.

"It's just that, I kind of eavesdropped on the girls having an argument. I'm not entirely sure on the details, but the main thing I heard was that they were actually planning some sort of revenge scheme against the Rainbooms and Sonata wasn't having any of it whatsoever."

The other line was quiet for a second before Visor spoke, _"Really? That's a surprise."_

"You're telling me. Though, by the sound of it, this may not be the only time she felt like this." Levin could only go off of the emotions Sonata was conveying.

_"Kinda like a 'built-up burst'?"_ That was a term he hasn't heard yet, but got the general idea of what it meant.

"Seems that way. Look, I know it isn't my business, but-" Levin gets cut off as Visor interrupts him.

_"You don't like seeing sad faces."_

Levin then realized what he just did, "Am I-"

_"Predictable, yes."_ He can just imagine a knowing smile on his friend's face right now.

Levin blinks once in response before Visor continues, _"Oh, I actually called to remind you about our little magic hunt."_

"O-Oh yeah, I totally remember..."

Visor can hear him lie through his teeth, not really surprising him due to the obvious reasons.

_"I figured as much. Any plans on what to do? Especially since we found witnesses this time?"_

Levin thought about that for a moment. The general idea when witnesses are involved is an interview, asking questions to better understand their perspective on what they saw. However, talking to all of them at once will be confusing, so the better idea is one-on-one. It was by now that he realizes something...

"Shoot..."

_"Something wrong?"_ Visor wasn't sure on what was happening.

"Did we get their numbers?"

Levin's question left them both silent, which was an answer in itself. Guess they were too distracted by their excitement to ask.

_"Wait, maybe Shade did."_

Levin perk up at Visor's suggestion, "You think he's still awake?"

_"Probably. Let me check."_

Levin waits in silence as his mind was starting to wander back to the recent events. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before he heard Visor's voice again.

_"OK, he texted saying that he does have Sunset's number, but he'll wait until tomorrow morning to ask about the interview."_

"It is pretty late." Levin comments, looking back at his clock to see it's been about five minutes after midnight now.

_"All right, can't wait to see the results of our investigation. See ya in the morning."_ Visor was pretty excited about that.

Levin liked the enthusiasm, showing that their work isn't going to waste. "Same here, see ya."

The call ends, leaving Levin alone in his quiet room as he places his phone on the nearby desk and lays down on his bed, hoping to get some decent sleep.

* * *

Sitting in her history class, Sci-Twi sees the empty seat next to her as Levin has strangely not shown up yet. As the clock came closer to starting the class, the teacher moves to close the door when she faintly heard footsteps down the hallway.

"Wait!" A familiar voice calls out before a brief slam was heard.

Turns out, the door was stopped from closing all the way due to someone's leg being in the way. The teacher pushes it open a bit to reveal that it was indeed Levin, rubbing his leg where the door slammed against it.

"Levin, you're not usually late." The teacher casually mentions as Levin stood up, making her realize that he actually slid to stop it.

"Sorry, sir. Woke up late." He admits, which was true.

"Since you're usually not, I'll let it slide. However, there will be consequences if this happens again." The teacher warns him, which he immediately understood.

"Yes, sir." With that said, Levin gets to his seat as class properly started.

Once he sat down, Sci-Twi was quite concerned as she saw his posture and facial expression was giving away his lack of sleep. His blazer was unbuttoned and even his hair wasn't as spiky as it usually is, implying that he may have rushed out the door.

"How much sleep did you get?" She wonders as he simply sat there, most likely zoning out.

He slowly turns his head to her before answering, "Not enough..."

"Why didn't you sleep?" Sci-Twi was understandably curious about it.

Levin was a bit conflicted on letting others know about the Dazzlings' argument, but only told Visor since he already knows them. Sci-Twi only knew Sonata right now and probably doesn't know much about resolving situations like this.

"Just had... one of my usual late-nighters." He wasn't really lying about that, letting out a yawn in between his sentence as he spoke.

"Really? Was it because of your magic investigation?" She guesses, which wouldn't really be wrong.

"Something like that..." He lets out for an answer as he is starting to close his eyes.

He then jerks right back up, rubbing his eyes out a bit to at least stay awake. He wants to at least do some work, only for Sci-Twi to speak.

"Do you want to rest for a bit? I can work by myself for today." Her offer caught him off guard.

He blinks once in surprise before responding, "A-Are you sure? I mean-"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, you look like you might fall asleep anyways." She reassures him.

He was a bit reluctant, but decides it would be best if he did since he can't concentrate properly right now. Plus, the teacher is mainly focused on his papers and the two are in the back of the class. These factors helped in convincing him to accept her offer, putting his arms on his desk before laying his head down upon them and closing his eyes.

Sci-Twi couldn't help but see how different he is when sleeping, looking rather content with himself. She then remembers the project and got back to work, time ticking on by as she does.

Once the clock was counting down the last seconds of the class, she gently shook him on the shoulder to wake him. Fortunately for her, he was a rather light sleeper as he opens his eyes.

"I miss anything?" Levin mumbles as he sits up.

"No, class is almost over." Sci-Twi clarifies for him, which he gently nods to as he stretches a bit.

"Gotcha." Once he finishes stretching, the bell rings to signal the end of class.

After gathering their stuff and left the classroom, she asks him a question. "So, what do you want to do after school today?"

"Let's see... I think we could find all the info for our history project." Levin deduces before answering, "How about-"

"Yo, Levin!" His answer was cut off as the two sees his friend Shade walk over to them, "Thought you didn't show up for school today."

Levin was rather confused at this, "What do you mean?"

"You didn't text me back." Shade holds his phone up to show his point before putting it back in his pocket.

Levin pulls out his phone, seeing that he has two unread messages from Shade. "Oh, sorry about that. Was in a bit of a rush."

He then remembers that Sci-Twi was standing next to him and introduces the two. "Twilight, Shade. Shade, Twilight."

Shade hid his surprise well as he sees how similar she and Pri-Twi are. Despite that, he casually greets her with a small smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." She greets him back with an equally small smile.

The warning bell then went off, signaling to the students to head onto class.

"Better get going. Be sure to check your messages later!" Shade told Levin before heading off to his second period.

Levin puts away his phone in his pocket as Sci-Twi spoke, "I guess you already have plans?"

"Most likely. I'll tell you more about it later, we got class to deal with." He admits before heading on ahead to his next period.

Despite his words, she couldn't help but feel a hint of sadness. Then again, she shouldn't expect to always spend time with him after school. Not dwelling on it for too long, she hurries on to her next class.

* * *

Time continues on as the first lunch period starts with Visor walking through the hallway towards the cafeteria behind a small crowd in a casual pace. The call from last night still on his mind, he quickly pushes it out to see the crowd going through the doors as a familiar face stuck out from it near the end.

"Wait, wasn't that her twin?" He mutters to himself before following suit.

Entering through the double doors, he looks around to try and find who he saw to no avail. He was able to see Levin and Shade in the lunch line, which he then sees his intended target in the vicinity of the two. However, it looks like she is stopped by two other students talking to her while being led further away to one of the pillars nearby. He heads on over rather quickly while avoiding bumping into others, slowing down as he enters the range of an obnoxiously sweet voice.

"Come on, Twilight! If you compete this year, we can win the academics no problem!"

"Um, I-I rather not join if that's all right." As he can see with the three, Sci-Twi was a bit uncomfortable talking to them.

Seeing the pair of girls talking to her up close, he was able to see more of their appearances aside from the school uniforms.

The one talking to Sci-Twi had moderate rose-colored hair with a grayish aquamarine streak running down the middle, tied in a ponytail that went with her moderate indigo eyes and pale grayish gold skin accompanied by her grayish aquamarine eyeshadow.

The other girl had grayish mulberry short hair with light raspberry streaks, going with her moderate cerise eyes and light turquoise gray skin accompanied by her dark indigo eyeshadow.

It was at this point that he recognizes the two from his math and history class respectively, Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare. The latter then enters the conversation with a rather arrogant tone in her voice.

"Really? I heard your brother entered when he was a student. I think he would be disappointed if he heard about this."

"Wait, where does my brother fit into this?" Sci-Twi was understandably confused by this sudden inclusion.

Deducing what he's hearing, the two are pressuring her to enter the games. Whether this is their idea or not, he does not like where this is going.

As quick as flipping a coin, Sour Sweet shows her the first part of her name as she spoke. "Look, as far as we know, you ain't got much of a choice. Just say yes and we'll be on our way."

Sci-Twi was very hesitant as the two sternly stared at her for the answer, which Visor decides now is the best time.

"You heard her earlier, ladies. She doesn't want to." He spoke up, casually walking towards them before stopping a few feet away.

The three turns towards who was talking to them, which two of them were put off a bit by this.

"Well, talk about a knight in shining armor!..." Sour Sweet was very sarcastic in her sweet tone before ending on a sour note, "For little kids."

"Funny, considering who's talking." He simply retorts right back, actually making her a bit mad.

"Look, this isn't your business, so why don't you just leave?" Sunny was rather direct with her words, matching with her rather rude voice.

"Since you're asking oh so nicely, how could I refuse?" He shoots back with obvious sarcasm before dropping it entirely, "Except I can, since that's my choice. Much like it's her choice to not compete in the games."

He steps a bit closer to show his seriousness before stopping, "Now, how about you two leave my friend here alone before I show you how rude I can really be?"

The two didn't know how to respond and simply glared at him before walking away, leaving the two alone as Sci-Twi was processing what just happened.

"Sheesh, at least that didn't get ugly." Visor said to himself before looking at Sci-Twi, "You all right?"

"Y-Yes, thank you." She simply replies back.

He then holds his hand out for a handshake, "Name's Visor, by the way."

"Twilight." She was still getting used to physical contact, so she just gently shook his hand in response.

"So you're Twilight, Levin told me about you." Hearing him say that made her perk up a bit.

He then felt his phone vibrate, pulling it out of his pocket to see a message that made him chuckle. "Speak of the devil..."

_L: Yo, not eating lunch today?_

_V: Not exactly. Had to help your girl friend out from a situation._

_L: Wait, what?_

_V: Give me a sec._

Looking around, he then sees the two at their usual table before turning to Sci-Twi. "Let's join the others."

"Sure." She agrees with him, wanting to sit down after that.

The two thankfully didn't have to deal with any crowds as they walk on over, the two seeing them when they took their seats.

"I didn't think you went to this lunch, Twilight. Thought you had a different one." Levin was the first to start a conversation.

"No, I'm usually in my lab at this time since we're allowed to move freely during lunch." She clarifies.

"Oh, that makes sense. Now, what was this situation you mentioned?" He asks, which Visor answers for the two.

"These two girls were trying to 'convince' her to enter the games. Specifically academics, but that's the general idea."

Shade stops sipping his milk to make a comment, "Why would they care about that?"

"That's a good question." Visor has yet to pinpoint that reason.

The boys then heard a growling sound from nearby before hearing Sci-Twi, "Sorry, didn't get anything to eat." She admits with a sheepish smile.

"Do you usually bring lunch?" Shade wonders, due to what she just said earlier.

"Yes, but I may have left it in the lab." She honestly just realizes that, much to her .

She then sees someone hand her an apple, which turns out to be Levin with his signature smile. "Here."

"O-Oh, thank you." She felt a bit of heat surface on her cheeks as she accepted his apple.

Shade and Visor couldn't help but have a smirk on their faces as they look at Levin, who notices this and knew what they were thinking. "It's my food, I can share it."

"We know." The two simply said in response, strangely in unison.

Levin rolls his eyes in annoyance before realizing something, "Any reason why you decided to come to lunch this time, Twilight?"

Sci-Twi then remembers why she is here, finishing her first bite of the apple before speaking. "You said that you would tell me more about your plans after school."

"Oh. Well, I already told you about our little 'magic hunt' and the witnesses we found yesterday. Shade was smart enough to get one of their numbers and helped get an interview with her for me." Levin casually answers, much to the other two's shock since they weren't aware that he told her about this.

"Really?" This rather intrigued her a bit, but then thought of something. "Do the girls go to Crystal Prep or some other school?"

"They actually go to CHS." Levin clarifies for her, "But yeah, I'll be a bit busy."

"That's all right..." Sci-Twi shrugs off before taking another bite of her apple.

It was very faint, but Visor was able to hear disappointment in her voice when she answered. Not wanting to leave this on a sour note, he spoke up to lighten the mood a bit.

"I don't have plans for today. Wanna hang out?" He offers, surprising her a bit as he gestures to Shade. "He can join in if that'll make you feel better."

"She barely knows me, but whatever. I'm free today." Shade adds with a small shrug.

She looks at him with her mouth still chewing, stopping momentarily to think about it. This would help build her social skills more as well as get to know his friends better since he isn't available at the moment. Plus, she owed him one for earlier. Finishing her bite, she then accepts his offer.

"T-That would be nice."

"Great!" Visor cheers a bit at her answer as Shade simply smiled in response.

Levin was glad that she's breaking through her shell a bit more now, showing progress.

As the four continue conversing, the two girls from earlier stared at them from behind the rectangular windows that the cafeteria doors had before talking to each other.

"Well, that went up in smoke." Sunny was rather irritated about this turn of events.

"Really? I thought it would be easy..." 'Sweet' was rather sarcastic before turning serious in her 'Sour' mood, "Until he stepped in and ruined it."

"Wait, aren't those the transfer students?" Sunny took a longer look at the boys as she wonders about this.

Sour Sweet rolls her eyes before she answers, "Doesn't matter now. Let's just go tell Principal Cinch."

Sunny didn't really like that they were selected for recruiting the students she picks, but knew complaining won't change anything as she lets out a small sigh.

"Fine. Though, I doubt we'll not getting some sort of punishment for this." She simply said.

The two then headed off towards the principal's office, bracing themselves for the worst just in case.

**And done! Wow, this is probably the shortest gap I had in between chapters so far for this story. As long as quality doesn't drop, I can try to keep this up. No promises, though.**

**Starting off is back with the Dazzlings still in the process of choice. Kinda similar to last chapter, this feels like I'm taking a chance with a character. But again, I can imagine Sonata feeling like this since I think she wouldn't be someone to hold a grudge. Levin eavesdropping was added later since it was going to get loud.**

**The late night call was mainly to remind me of their main objective while giving Levin and Visor a bit more screen time. I also realized that despite the time they spent with the Rainbooms, Sunset and Shade were the only ones that shared numbers.**

**The morning part was something that just came to me. Despite Levin's usual routine, even I know that he'll eventually be late for school. It also was a nice little interaction between him and Sci-Twi along with introducing her to Shade briefly.**

**Speaking of the boys, I figured it's time she met the other two. Plus, I wanted to introduce the last two of the Shadowbolts main team for some time, so this came together rather nicely. I also wanted to add Principal Cinch in at least as a cameo just to give you an idea of how I would write her, but I'll wait until later to discuss that further.**

**Also throwing this out there, I am planning a EG Christmas Special since this does take place during the winter. HOWEVER, I won't do it until I finish this story in its entirety. That way, it won't feel disjointed from the story's canon. I'll probably add it either as the epilogue or the chapter after it.**

**Anyways, thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	17. C16: Secrets Revealed

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. First thing of business, what do we have:**

**johannvanguard: I was hoping that it would surprise you, makes ya more intrigued on what will happen. Indeed it is. We shall see, of course.**

**Thanks for the feedback. With that said, let's continue!**

**Chapter 16: Secrets Revealed**

"Miss Twilight Sparkle doesn't want to participate in the Friendship Games?" A stern voice questions her two students as they sat in her office.

The neat and organized interior of the office tells a lot about the principal as it had shelves of academic books filled to the brim, the yearbooks of the years she was in charge of, and even trophies from scholastic events that helps define her school as one of the best. However, she is mainly focused on this little change of her plans right now.

Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet sat in two of the three chairs placed in front of the main desk, the former eventually speaking up to answer her question.

"Yes, but only because of another student stepping in." This caught the principal's attention as she adjusts her red thin-framed glasses.

Her attire is that of a rather strict authority figure as she also wears a light blue buttoned-up blouse with a red jewel pendant under a darker blue buttoned-up blazer, a midnight blue skirt with dark magenta pantyhose underneath, and a pair of black heeled shoes with a blue stripe on each one. Her appearance consists of rather neat hair tied in a bun and her bangs in an equally neat swirly curl as it has dark moderate shades of orchid and fuchsia respectively, grayish fuchsia eyes, light opal gray skin with pale violet eyeshadow and a moderate shade of raspberry lipstick. The figure known as Principal Cinch sits in her spinning chair that looks kinda like a throne in design with a curious expression as she wonders about this outcome.

"Rrrreally? Did you happen to learn their name by chance?"

"No, but it turns out to be one of those transfer students that arrived earlier this year." Sour Sweet answers this time, making sure she stayed neutral since she knows from experience that the principal doesn't find her dual personalities 'funny' as she puts it.

Principal Cinch was rather intrigued by this, "Miss Twilight Sparkle has friends?"

"That's a surprise!" Sour Sweet was rather sarcastic as she spoke out of turn, immediately shutting her mouth as the principal wasn't amused at all.

Sunny Flare was a bit nervous about what she might do, only to be confused as Principal Cinch had a small smirk appear on her face.

"This new development may prove to be quite fruitful. You two, continue to receive our prime candidates for the Friendship Games. Be on your way now." She orders before searching through her drawers.

The two didn't complain since there was no punishment this time, quickly getting up to leave the office. Principal Cinch was now alone as she searches a drawer filled with the students' folders that has various information before pulling out the three she was looking for.

Levin Reed, Shade Scintilla, and Visor Chevalier were the students that recently transferred a couple of months ago due to their rather high grades and athlete records. She was considering making them join the team, but they weren't candidates in the top twelve... at the time. She flips open her school laptop and goes to the automatic listings to see who is currently at the top picks.

The original twelve she remembers were from lowest to highest: Jet Set, Upper Crust, Neon Lights, Suri Polomare, Trenderhoof, Royal Pin, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, and Twilight Sparkle.

The new order after the transfer students had the time to adjust to Crystal Prep is now from lowest to highest: Suri Polomare, Trenderhoof, Royal Pin, Visor Chevalier, Shade Scintilla, Levin Reed, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, and Twilight Sparkle.

Seeing where they are in the ranks and their connection with Twilight Sparkle, she sees a prime opportunity to try and see if she can get all four to join in one swift motion. However, due to what happened earlier with her volunteers, it would be better if she waits it out and get more research on them before doing anything risky.

Moving her laptop to the side and opening their folders to see what lies within them, she thoroughly reads the documents in the order of the ranking numbers.

Visor Chevalier is the son of a single mother named Ataraxy Sky, who was a rather successful photographer to call for to promote various businesses and landmarks in town. He is rather fond of sports and motorcycles, currently delivering pizzas as a part-time job where they are rather lenient in his scheduling due to school. His records were rather clean for the most part, except one time at his old high school where he asked for a week off to 'mourn a loss'.

Shade Scintilla has no immediate parents to even mention, which only leaves him living with his aunt Candid Brace who is also the school's nurse. He is rather skilled with his writing, shown in the writing tests they give from time to time, and currently has no job to speak of. His records were more iffy, having a lot of tardies and even referrals due to arriving quite late to school until his freshman year where he stops that habit altogether.

Levin Reed is the son of a single father named Marvel Rumble, who she has heard about in one or two recent movies that has come out. He has proven to be the smartest of the three, excelling in classes such as physics and mathematics that can possibly rival the top minds that Crystal Prep has had before. He may have no job, but his father is most likely supporting him in terms of money. In terms of his records, the only time it wasn't clean was him missing an entire month of school during his elementary years where the only reason given why he was is 'in denial'.

Principal Cinch was now more curious as to how these three came together, but put that in the back of her mind before closing the folders and puts them back in the drawer. Right as she was about to close it, she sees a rather familiar name and pulls out her folder to see the name of an ex-student.

"Sunset Shimmer..." She mutters in a rather regretful tone in her voice.

* * *

As school lets out, students were exiting the building with the boys and Sci-Twi going out the back to the parking lot with Levin being a bit ahead for obvious reasons. After Shade tells him where Sunset is gonna be to meet up, Levin hops on his bicycle and heads off to his destination. Leaving Sci-Twi with his friends, they then realize that they don't really have a proper plan of hanging out.

"Hmm, what would be a good place to go?" Shade wonders as Visor was shivering from the cold.

Sci-Twi sees that the snow was falling a bit faster than before, kinda telling her that any outside activities would be ill-advised. Thinking of any indoor activities, one does come to mind as she hasn't been there in a few days.

"How about the library?" She suggests, which Shade is actually all for with Visor being a bit hesitant.

"I don't know, not really much of a bookworm." The latter mentions before shivering a lot more, "Then again, it's better than being out here."

With an unanimous decision, the three didn't take too long to reach the city library and were quick to enter it to get out of the cold. The library was huge. containing various books of diverse genres that Sci-Twi and Shade were eager to read. While they were busy looking around, Visor was rubbing his arms to warm himself up from the cold air.

"I'll never get tired of this place." Sci-Twi was honest with that statement before turning to the two, "Where do you want to start?"

"Ladies' choice." Shade simply answers with Visor in favor of that as he adds, "I'm curious to see what you read."

She then leads the way for them, going rather deep into the book aisles till they reached the science fiction section. Visor was mainly listening as the two talk about the stories on the shelves.

"Outer space travel, alien life, and advanced technology. Gotta love science." Shade summarizes in his own words as Sci-Twi pulls out one of the books.

She then reads the title of it, "'Starry Walkers'. This started out interesting, but became more drawn out as it went."

Shade sees the title of the book and kinda groaned a bit as she puts it back, "I wasn't really a fan of that series."

"What about this one?" She pulls out another book before reading the title, "'The Year 3000.' This is actually really good."

"Oh yeah, though it does drag a bit during the second act." Shade admits, which Sci-Twi can understand why as she agrees with him there. "True, one or two scenes can be cut out to pace it better."

As she puts that book back in its place, Visor took out one from a lower shelf that reached their chest, reading the title aloud. "'Infinite Mysteries.' Oh, isn't this like space noire with detectives and stuff?"

"Now that is an excellent book." Shade immediately compliments it, which Sci-Twi was a bit confused about what he means.

"I don't think I heard of that book." Upon saying that, Shade straight up snatches the book from Visor and places it in front of her.

"If you like mysteries, I highly recommend this one." He suggests, though it may be more of a demand.

Visor blinks once before casually responding to his rudeness, "Could have just asked, dude."

Shade then realizes what he just did, nervously smiling in response. "Sorry."

Visor rolls his eyes before seeing Sci-Twi take the book and opens it to read the first page, scratching his head a bit as he spoke. "While you guys do that, I'll check out the other stuff."

"OK, we'll be here." Shade briefly said before joining her in the reading.

Figuring that they may be there for a bit, Visor walks off to see what else the library has in store. As he walks down the different aisles, it was surprising that there wasn't much to catch his attention until he reaches the fantasy/adventure section, seeing someone else reading one of the books. The stranger had a pretty good sense of style, the wool pecker fedora being the one that stands out to him.

As he gets closer to him to start a conversation, the stranger was a bit ahead of him. "Looking for something?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm just looking around, seeing if anything catches my eye." Visor tries to act casual from being caught off guard a bit.

The stranger was a bit confused at what he meant, "Well, if you're able to read, then a book will catch your eye."

"If so, I haven't seen one yet." Visor shrugs his comment off as he looks at the various books on a shelf where the stranger was facing, "Any of them you-"

Before he finishes his question, the man pulls one of the books out and shows him what it was. However, Visor's eyes was mainly on his bandaged hand that was holding it.

"Are you all right?" The man sees what he meant, giving him a simple answer in response.

"Don't worry, just messed up my arm a bit on my last trip." He was rather neutral in his tone of voice that still came across as honest.

Visor wasn't one to pry on certain topics, taking his word for it as he then looks at the title of the book he was holding before reading it aloud.

"'Timeless Tales'? What's this about?" He wonders, only for the stranger to move the book a bit closer.

"Read it and you'll see." He wasn't wrong about that.

Figuring why not, Visor accepts the book and opens to the prologue page to then read aloud to himself.

_"Most people will tell you that time is a river, flowing swift and sure in a destined direction. But I have seen the eyes of time, and I can assure you, they are wrong. Time is nothing but an ocean, crashing waves under the thunder of a raging storm. I know that you are wondering who I am and why I'm even telling you this. Please sit down, and I will tell you such tales like none you have heard before..."_

Just by reading that paragraph, Visor was impressed by the way the author was starting the story like he was talking to the reader.

"You like it?" The stranger sounded rather confident about that.

"Not gonna lie, this ain't half bad." Visor's answer brought a small smirk on the man's face as he then pulls out another book, "Then you'll like this one."

Visor moves the current book he has to his right hand as he took the new one into his left hand, reading the title to it that sounds more familiar to the last one.

"'Daring Do and the Amulet of Time.' Oh yeah, this girl."

He recognizes the character on the cover as she slides down a rather large tree trunk, a strange creature shrouded in darkness looms over her as another character was swinging alongside her on a vine with the said amulet floating right above the two with a golden glow.

"Honestly one of my personal favorites, if I might add." The stranger admits, which Visor can see from the cover alone.

"All right, I'll be sure to read it. Thanks, um..." He then realizes that he never asked his name during their conversation.

The stranger holds out his gloved right hand as he introduces himself, "Aeon Rover, nice to meet you."

Visor puts the two books in his left arm as he shook the hand with his right, "Visor Chevalier. Thanks again, sir."

"Your welcome." With that said, the handshake ended before Aeon walks away around the shelves.

Visor then looks at the two books he was given, sparing a second glance at the Daring Do cover before realizing something. Looking at the second character more closely, he was getting a sense of deja vu from what he was wearing. A rather intriguing cane in his right hand with black attire such as a trenchcoat, gloves, and a familiar fedora- wait a second!

Quickly going around the corner, he sees no one else around and continues to look through the other aisles to try catching Aeon, to no avail.

"How did he..." Visor mutters, stopping himself as he knows he won't get an answer like this.

Once he recovers from the shock, he walks down the aisles towards the other two who he thinks is still reading the book that Shade snatched from him earlier. By the time he reaches them, they actually have looked through the shelves for other books to read. Sci-Twi had two books like him, with Shade having three books in total.

"Found what you wanted?" Shade asks him, seeing the books in Visor's arm.

"Yeah. Got an extra one, I see." The latter responds back, having a hunch on what it could be.

Sci-Twi notices what he meant, now wanting to know why. "Oh. What else did you get?"

"Uh, j-just something that I read from time to time." Shade tries to act cool, trying to cover his little stutter in the beginning.

During this time, he wasn't aware of Visor casually walking over as he was talking to her, catching him off guard by bumping his elbow into his side to make him drop his books onto the ground.

Visor had a smug smirk as one of them was not like the others, quickly picking up the one that stood out before Shade did.

"What's this?" He wonders, having to hold his friend back with his foot as he tries to reach for the book.

"Give that back!" Shade was trying his hardest not to yell since they were still in the library.

Sci-Twi wasn't sure how to process this scene, whether to laugh or intervene.

"Let's see... 'The Solar Eclipse'? I can guess-" Next thing she saw, Shade actually pulls him off his feet and currently has him in an ankle lock.

"Say one more word and you won't be moving properly for awhile." He threatens Visor in a rather low voice, which was much different than how he was earlier.

Visor kept quiet with his smirk still on display as he slid the book out of his own reach. Once he did that, Shade lets go of the hold and went to pick up his books.

"Sheesh, didn't expect that." Visor admits, picking up his own books after dropping them from the pull.

After the little scuffle, the two then realizes that Sci-Twi saw that whole thing. Knowing that she isn't aware of why that happened, Shade tries to explain it to his own embarrassment.

"Sorry about that. L-let's just say that I, um..." Seeing that he is rather hesitant, Visor stood up to take over the explanation.

"You know when people develop a crush on someone, they do odd things?" Sci-Twi simply nods her head in response before he continues, "Well, this guy reads romance novels as his 'odd thing'."

Shade felt heat enter his cheeks, avoiding eye contact with her as she looks at him. He was trying to think of something to make it less awkward, only to be surprised by what she said.

"I think that's rather nice."

The two boys were dumbfounded, mainly since they thought she would laugh or something.

"I haven't read them myself, but a boy that reads romance novels isn't someone you usually meet." She elaborates to clear their confusion.

Shade was the first to respond to that, "O-Oh. Thank you." He lets out a chuckle to mainly ease himself from the uneasiness.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I think we spent enough time here." Visor didn't feel like staying in the library any longer.

"Yeah, I think we're good for now." Shade agrees with him there, "Plus, I'm a little bit hungry."

"Same. I actually have a craving for sweets today, strangely." Visor admits before turning to Sci-Twi, "What about you? Hungry too?"

"A little bit, yeah." She answers honestly, "I'm sure what you pick will be fine."

With the three in agreement, they go to get their books checked out. Visor still kept that Aeon fellow in mind, but didn't bring him up since he doubts they would believe him seeing someone that could disappear into thin air. Right now, he'll just keep it to himself.

* * *

After leaving his friends at Crystal Prep, Levin rode his bicycle to the destination Shade told him to go. It didn't take that long to reach CHS since it's only a few blocks down, reaching the courtyard before slowing down and stopping near the statue. Looking around, he sees students exiting the entrance doors while waiting for Sunset to come out.

He got a few looks from the students, but nothing beyond that since he wasn't wearing his Crystal Prep uniform on the outside. Once he saw who he was looking for, he raises his hand up high as a way to tell her he's here.

The Rainbooms saw him and happily waved back in response, walking on over before stopping a few feet away with Sunset speaking first.

"Nice to see you're on time." She points out, already knowing why he's here.

"Of course. I don't like keeping people waiting." Levin looks at the others before continuing, "How are you girls doing today?"

"Great! We've been showing Twilight around our school to let her see how classes here are compared to her school back home!" Pinkie answers first, reminding him of the other Twilight.

"Oh yeah, her twin." He mutters to himself since he kinda forgot that too before Pri-Twi speaks, "It's not entirely different, but it was a nice little tour."

"That's good to hear." Levin smiles at that before turning his attention to Sunset as she spoke, "I already told them about the interview. Shade mentioned that you wanted to talk to me one-on-one?"

"Correct. Since you all pretty much seen the same thing at the same place and time, I'll only be getting the event from slightly different perspectives." He answers, which does make sense in the overall picture. "Do you want to talk somewhere else? The snow seems to be coming down a bit more today."

"Sure. I have a place in mind." She then gestures to the others, "Plus, Twilight wants to catch up with the others, so it lines up pretty well."

"Well, that works out pretty well." Levin is aware of how lucky his group is, rather intrigued how it works things out like that.

After about a minute of who is doing what, Sunset and Levin breaks away from the group to the place of her choosing, which turns out to be her own house. He was a bit surprised at this, which then leads to him being understandably nervous once they reached their destination.

"Do you want me to leave my bike out here?" He asks, mainly since he doesn't want to make a mess no matter how small in someone else's home.

"I don't mind if you bring it in. Especially since it does get worn down from the snow, I bet." She answers, much to his surprise before he gives a small smile.

"Thanks." He was glad he doesn't have to worry about that the entire time.

Unlocking her front door, the two enter the house with Levin bringing in his bicycle, placing it close to the door without being in the way of the doorway right before she closes it. After locking it, she starts to take off her coat as he leans the bike gently on the wall.

"I'd figured that a more private place will help with the interview, so I figured why not. What do you think?" Sunset watches Levin as he looks around.

He was rather impressive, being pretty big for just one person and neatly clean on top of that.

"Nice pad. Is it just you here?" He was obviously curious due to the place being suited for more than one person.

"Mainly yes, but Twilight is staying here during her visit." She answers honestly as she places her coat on one of the hangers in the closet by the stairs.

Levin notices the first part sounded a bit sober before dropping completely, but left it be for now as he continues the conversation.

"How nice of you." He then sees a rather small Christmas tree on the tabletop next to the couch, "Oh yeah, the holidays are coming up."

"Yup. You have a tree yet?" She wonders.

"Not yet." He admits, "Been busy with lots of other stuff like the Dazzlings."

"Good point. How are they?"

That question made Levin think for a moment, coming to a rather simple realization. Sunset and the others have known the girls longer than him, why not ask her about the current situation? Coming to the conclusion, he goes for the honest answer as he turns to her.

"Um, they are kinda getting through a rough patch. I may have overheard them arguing about something."

Sunset was kinda surprised about this, "Really? What was it about?"

This is where he is hesitant. He does know it was about the Rainbooms, but he wasn't sure how she would react. Probably best that he stays vague on that part for now.

"I don't know. All I heard was yelling and a door slamming a little bit later." Levin recalls, much to his own discomfort.

"Wow. That does sound rough." She sees what he means from what he said.

He then looks directly at her, "Is there anything I can do?"

She can see the seriousness in his eyes as he asked that, responding with a bit of advice. "I think it'd be a good idea to give it time, see if they resolve it on their own. If not, then maybe come up with an activity that involves all of you. Remind them of the good times they had."

Levin kept that in mind, looking back at the small Christmas tree she had before getting an idea. "I can get a tree! That way, we can have the four of us decorate it."

"That can work." She simply said, seeing no reason why he shouldn't.

"Then probably go gift shopping, since I have practically triple the friends and family from last year." He adds, realizing that right then and there.

Upon saying that, she realizes that she has to do that eventually too. Before speaking any further, she then had a sudden urge to use the bathroom.

"Excuse me, I gotta use the bathroom." Levin simply nodded in response, letting her go ahead as he spoke. "OK, I'll keep myself busy."

"OK!" She managed to say back before she reaches her destination, closing the door behind her.

He doesn't mind doing a simple house tour by himself, starting with the floor he was already on. He looks back over to where the small Christmas tree was, seeing a rather comfy couch placed in front of a big flat-screen TV, accompanied by various gaming systems and video games that he actually recognizes most of them from the titles, all of which is placed under a shelf that has lots of books for simple reading entertainment.

"Cool, she's the gamer type." He said to himself before teasing his friend a bit under his breath, "I'm sure Shade will like that."

Continuing from there, he sees a small room under the balcony area that holds a shelf on the wall for books as well, held over a dual-screen computer setup that she most likely uses for school work and studying. Walking up the steps to the balcony above, he sees three guitars hung on the wall going up the long set of stairs as he passes them. Reaching the top, he looks around to get a rather nice overview of the first floor.

"As I expected, like the one at my house." He comments, making the comparison between the two mentally as he does.

Looking back at the bedroom, it was a rather simple setup. The large bed was placed close to a window behind it with the curtains open, a bookcase on the other side of it that only has a couple of books, a alarm clock on a small drawer placed near the pillows and a calendar on the wall close by.

"Nice cozy place. Guess they share the bed?" He wonders, seeing the two pillows on the big bed since she's sharing the place with Pri-Twi before shrugging. "Better than one on the couch."

Looking at the one drawer there, his curiosity went up a bit as he walks to it and then slowly opens it. Taking a peek inside, he sees yet another book with a pack of sharpened pencils next to it. The book is rather interesting, the cover of it isn't like other books he sees at the school library. Though, he could have sworn he has seen the design before.

"Wait, isn't this..." He trails off, realizing that the sun design is also on Sunset's winter coat as he saw it when she puts it in her closet.

With those two details, he deduces that this is most likely her personal diary. He then closes the drawer up until it was only halfway, his mind becoming more curious by the second as to what it may contain.

"No, I won't be tempted!" He mutters, yet his hand hasn't moved an inch from where it was.

More questions raised in his head, much to his dismay as his scientific side was starting to surface. Before he does anything else, he then hears the bathroom door open down below. Realizing his position, he quickly closes the drawer without making too much noise and starts to go down the stairs as he sees Sunset enter into the room.

"Sorry for the sudden restroom break." She apologizes, looking around for him before he gets her attention with his response.

"It's all right. Makes it easier for the interview to not be interrupted." He then notices her curious look and was quick to clarify what he was doing, "I just wanted to see the view from up there. I have a balcony back home that is pretty similar as it looks over the living quarters."

"Ah. Well, hope it didn't disappoint." She simply said as she walks over to the couch.

"I enjoyed it, would go up there again." He responds with before following suit.

Once the two took their seats, he's finally at what his original plan was before starting it with a simple question related to the event for discussion.

"As we established before, the six of you saw the rainbow alicorn at the same time?"

"Correct. We saw it just as quick as it disappeared."

"True, it didn't stay for long. But, didn't it fire some sort of beam at something when it appeared?"

"I think so. It was rather bright when it came down, so we couldn't see what it fired at."

Levin was a bit skeptical on that. They saw the alicorn, but not the target? Deciding to leave it for now, he continues on with the conversation.

"Hopefully it wasn't too dangerous." He figured that the blast would be harmful to the area.

"We were pretty lucky to be at a safe distance at the time." She clarifies the confusion he has about that.

"Ah. Do you know where it might have come from, by chance?"

Sunset thought about that one for a moment before giving an answer, "To be honest, I'm not sure myself. I asked the others about that and they said the same thing."

"Hmm, I have a theory on where it may have came from." He then pulls out his paper of drawings, showing it to her as he explains what he means. "And it stems from this instance."

He points to the quadruple rainbow, which she instantly recognizes from the Fall Formal, but was curious to see how he connects the two. "How is it related to the alicorn?"

"Simple. Where that emerged was from Canterlot High. A couple of months later, the alicorn shows up at the amphitheater. The fact that these two share the theme of destructive rainbows, there has to be a link that is at the school itself."

She was impressed on how he connects the dots, "You have a good point."

"The question is where the source could be. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary during your time at CHS?"

To her, everything was out of the ordinary when she arrived here in the human world. After adjusting to living here, the only thing that stood out after all that time was the portal to Equestria when she stole Princess Twilight's crown. Now that the magic is here from the other side, the statue being the gateway, it may manifest when they need it most.

Though, how would they handle the fact that there is a parallel world not run by humans, but various ponies and animal species that can use magic as part of their daily lives? Besides, he probably meant inside the school itself, not where the school is. With that in mind-

Realizing that she was quiet for a bit too long, she answers vaguely instead. "As far as I remember, I never saw anything that stood out to me like that."

Levin was surprised at that before pressing a bit further, "Are you absolutely sure that you never saw a portal or anything like that?"

"I know that school inside and out, never saw a magical portal." She reaffirms, handing him back the paper before he folds it up and puts it in his pocket.

He was visibly disappointed, putting his hand over his mouth with a distant look in his eyes before looking away. "It's gotta be there..." He mutters, clenching his fist a bit as he does.

Sunset feels bad about not telling him, but knows that there is just stuff that won't make sense no matter how you look at it. Still, she doesn't want this to end on a sad note as she places her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, you'll find it. The Dazzlings found you and are now better than before. If they found what they wanted, then you will too."

Levin looks back at her, seeing her reassuring smile which was enough to create a small smile on his face.

"You're right. Got this far, can't give up now." He then stands up on his feet, "All right, I think that's everything I can think of off the top of my head."

"That was kinda short." She had a good point there.

"Well, this wasn't gonna be an interrogation. That school has something, so I figured to ask someone who goes there." He briefly explains before crossing his arms over his chest, "Sadly, it doesn't help move this ball any further."

"It'll move." She said, getting his attention before continuing. "And it's gonna be a strike."

Levin stares at her for a moment before realizing the pun in that, letting out a small laugh in agreement. "Yeah, it'll be a perfect game."

"Which reminds me." She suddenly sat up, pressing the power button on the remote to turn on the TV as she spoke. "There was two reasons why I brought you here. One was the interview, the other is seeing your gaming skills. Shade said you're pretty good."

"I'm not one to brag, but yeah." He had a smirk on his face as he said that.

"Good, then let's see what you got." She had an equally confident smirk as she held two controllers, holding one out for him to take.

"All right, I accept your challenge." Sitting right back down, he takes the controller before the two press start to begin their game.

**And done! Wow, the longest chapter for this story yet! I haven't written something this long since my old stories. Anyways, let's go down the list for the new stuff added.**

**First, Principal Cinch was something that I was hesitant on. I didn't mind her as a villain, but she fell into that one-note catalyst character type for me. After some time doing research on her, I finally decided to give her a shot. However, I'm gonna write her into how I would have thought would have made her interesting in her debut, especially since she was the first antagonist for the EG series that WASN'T from Equestria in any way. Plus, the scene was a good time to introduce some backstory for my OCs without having them doing some sort of exposition dump that'll halt the pacing.**

**Second, I was never a fan of how they handled the 'Human Sunset' plot point in the series, so I decided to do something with that. I had it on my mind for some time, but wasn't really sure on how to do it. After some digging around, I found pictures of 'what if Sunset went to Crystal Prep' and it just clicked. Not only would it be a nice parallel to the current Sunset, but it can add more to the school in general.**

**Third, I wanted to have Aeon show up again and meet Visor so that all three would at least know of his existence, so the visit to the library was chosen. It fits his character as well as Sci-Twi's and Shade's since they are fans of literature. However, the introduction of Daring Do was a pretty cool idea that they introduced in this universe, so I also wanted to do something with that too. How the two know each other, that's for me to know and you to find out.**

**I WILL SAY THIS NOW! These are not the MAIN focus of this story. They are just there to elaborate on for later stories. With that said, let's get into the chapter proper.**

**Principal Cinch makes her physical appearance, having two of the six Shadowbolts as her volunteers to recruit the top students since she is rather busy to do such stuff. After telling her what happened in the cafeteria, she decides to recruit the four in her own way. Of course, she has to refresh her memory of the students, hence the backstory part.**

**The library was chosen for the setting of the hangout for Sci-Twi, Shade and Visor for reasons stated before. Since Visor isn't into books as much as the other two, he would go look around for stuff he might like while they are being bookworms. There, we get him meeting Aeon who was enjoying a book as well before sharing a conversation. Once that takes place, Visor meets back up with the other two where it turns out that Shade reads romance novels, which was something I just thought of for some comedy to throw into the mix.**

**On the other side of the coin, we get to the interview between Levin and Sunset where we go back to her place for the setting. After an exchange of the holidays coming up, they go into what she saw and his deductions on where the magic is. I know that they are being vague for some answers, but it's mainly because I can't see a normal person that doesn't go to CHS actually believe someone else by word of mouth unless they see it for themselves. Once the interview is over, the two then play some video games to see each other's skills.**

**Man, I didn't really think that the story would have evolved into this from when I started this. This year was when I decided to get serious about writing, so I'm very happy with all the support you guys are giving through your feedback and overall enjoyment of what I write. From brand new ideas to old flames reigniting, I have a bunch on my plate for next year for you to read.**

**By the time of this being posted, it's on Christmas! So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays for all those that celebrate this and the other holidays all around the world! Hope you all have a stellar time with all your family and friends, gifts and parties alike! And l****ike I said in the previous chapter, I'm ending this story with the Christmas Special no matter how late it is.**

**So, with ALL that said, hope you guys enjoyed reading this and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	18. C17: Mutual Connections

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. Now, let's see what we got:**

**johannvanguard: Like I said, that shall be explained later. Well, Shade was already into books, Visor was the one that wasn't. Indeed he did. We shall see in due time.**

**Thanks for the feedback, man! With that said, let us continue!**

**Chapter 17: Mutual Connections**

Sci-Twi was intrigued by the choice Visor made as the three have arrived at a candy store, the latter parking his motorcycle in a nearby spot. She hops off the back seat and looks at the store, seeing the sign of what it is called.

"'Sweet and Sour.' Hopefully, that's not all they have." She comments on it as Visor hops off his bike.

"Don't worry, they have all kinds of sweets." He reassures her before adding, "Plus, it counts as a diner too."

Shade caught up soon after, hopping off his skateboard and kicking it into the air in one swift motion before catching it.

"I'm still impressed that you can keep up with him." She recalls her own reaction to this when they went to the library earlier.

"When he goes as fast as he does on that bike, I have to do a flawless run." Shade admits, knowing from experience that mistakes will make him lose Visor's trail.

Once the three enter the place, there was a bunch of people inside either at the booths or the tables. Made sense since this is one of the more popular hangout spots for students. Once they found an empty table, they took their seats as a waitress saw them and came over.

"Welcome. Do you want any drinks before placing an order?" She asked, giving them three menus to share among themselves.

"Yes, I'll have a strawberry ice cream soda." Visor answers first before turning to the two, "You two can order what you like. I'm just going for the sweets."

Sci-Twi and Shade were looking through their menus as the latter spoke, "You do you, my friend. I'll just have a blueberry smoothie."

"Um, just water for me." The former simply said.

Once the waitress got their drinks written down, she went off to go get them while leaving the three to look through the menus. Visor was the first to finish with the other finishing later, mainly due to having been here before.

"So, what else are you into? Besides books, of course." Visor starts the conversation off with, mainly towards Sci-Twi.

"Well, I really love science. Especially when it comes to physics and the unknown." She answers honestly, "I always want to find an answer to something no one knows yet."

"Sounds like someone else we know." Shade sarcastically comments, Visor already knowing who he means.

Sci-Twi caught on soon after as the waitress comes over and places the drinks on the table before pulling out her pen and paper, "Have you decided on what to order?"

"Yes, miss. I'll have the key lime cheesecake." Visor was the first to answer.

"I'll have the regular burger and fries." Shade casually follows up on that.

"Just a chicken sandwich will do." Sci-Twi finishes the order as the waitress wrote that down.

Once she left to get their orders, Sci-Twi picks up the conversation where it left off.

"Speaking of answers, I'm really intrigued by this 'magic hunt' you guys are doing." She admits, getting both of their attentions as they were taking a sip of their drinks. "Do you three really believe that magic exist?"

"Well, considering all that we've seen so far, I'm starting to believe it." Shade has to admit, considering all that has happened within practically a week.

"And I'm very excited about that." Visor added.

"Then I'm in." At that moment, the two were straight-up silent at her words.

She was a bit confused at this and adds more to clarify, "I've been researching magical phenomenons for awhile too. I was even able to pinpoint where it's possibly coming from."

"We did too. If it's the same place, I honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point." Visor casually said.

"Same." Shade agrees with him on that before turning to Sci-Twi, "It's CHS, isn't it?"

He lets a small smirk appear on his face as her own face told him the answer he was expecting, "Oh come on, can't even do a dramatic reveal..." She mutters with a little pout.

"How did you get interested in magic, anyways?" Visor had a pretty good question there.

"Ever since the night of that... 'quadruple rainbow beam' I think it was?" Her answer was immediately recognizable to the two.

"And yet another coincidence to check off the list." Shade comments on the possibility of this encounter happening.

Sci-Twi then continues with her side of the conversation, "Once I deduced the location, I then did some research on the school webpage and found-"

"Wait... wait, wait, wait." Visor cuts her off while processing what she just said for a moment before having a realization, "Why didn't we just do that?"

Shade was taking a sip of his drink as his friend spoke, taking a second to listen before answering the question. "Simple, we didn't think of it."

He watches Visor pinch the bridge of his nose before turning to Sci-Twi, "You were saying?"

"Like I said, I did some research on the school webpage and... couldn't really find anything that mentions it." She eventually admits.

"Two things come to mind with that." Shade then holds up one finger before continuing, "One, this was a really elaborate rumor to send people on a wild goose chase. Considering the coincidences, I doubt that's the case."

He then puts up a second finger, "Or two, this is true and the students there are covering it up as best as they could. Obviously, some of them have big mouths and couldn't help themselves."

"The thing is, both of those relates to the school. Which means no matter the choice, it's the same result." Visor had a good point there.

"Then why don't we just go there now?" Sci-Twi pitches the offer to the two, which they were surprisingly hesitant at.

"You have to keep this in mind. If the magic is real, and it's capable of firing lasers..." Shade said slow enough for her to piece together what he means.

Once she does, her expression deflates into a more sorrowful one upon the realization. "I'm staying behind, aren't I?"

Shade and Visor look at each other before going back to her, "If you're talking about being at a really safe distance-" The latter was cut off by the former speaking up rather bluntly.

"This magic can be potentially dangerous to anyone. The last thing we want to happen is getting anyone else involved. I know you also want to see it, but we agreed that it'll be between the three of us to find it."

Hearing the last part, she should have figured that Levin would also be against the idea of her going with them. Still, she wants to get something out of this at least.

"But, it doesn't mean we're leaving you out." She looks up at Visor as he continues, "Just think of us as the field guys collecting data. Once we get what's there, we can relay the info back to you."

"Since Levin trusts you enough to bring up our 'magic hunt', I wouldn't be surprised that he tells you this as well." Shade adds in, knowing their friend too well.

Sci-Twi was still a bit bummed from not going, but cheered up a bit after their reassurance on the results. "That's good enough, I guess."

Soon after saying that, the waitress brings in their food and places them on the table for the three.

"Thank you, miss." Visor thanks her right before she leaves.

Once she does, the three then digs into their food with the occasional dialogue to share between bites and sips of their meals.

* * *

"Ooh, so close!"

Levin leans back against the back of the couch as Sunset caught her breath, having scored a narrow victory against her opponent in the final round of an old-school fighting game. She had a confident grin as she looks at him, seeing his blank expression before speaking.

"I noticed that slip-up. Guess that wasn't intentional?"

"Yeah..." He then lets out a sigh before adding, "A rookie mistake, too."

"It's all right. People tend to panic under pressure."

She wasn't wrong, but he didn't want to dwell on it before sitting back up. He thought about having one more match, but notices how late it was getting outside with the sun setting in the sky.

"I think we should stop there for today." He puts the controller on the seat next to him as she looks at him.

"Oh, OK." She then sees how late it was getting, "Whoa, time flies fast."

"You have no idea." He comments, knowing the feeling as he gets up to his feet. "You're pretty good. Been awhile since I had trouble keeping up."

"Come on, you won a few yourself." Sunset knew he was being humble with his gaming skills, throwing a compliment his way as a response.

"True." Levin simply said, leaving it at that.

She then pulls out her phone, "Since you're leaving, mind giving me your number? That way, Shade doesn't have to be the middle guy for messages."

"I'm sure he doesn't mind talking to you." He comments, mostly teasing his friend to get a chuckle out of her.

It succeeded, but only for a second as she insisted on it. "Still, I doubt he can do it every time."

Pulling out his phone, he agrees on that part. "Good point. All right, here's mine."

It didn't take long to exchange numbers, taking only a few seconds to do so. After making sure it worked, Levin puts his phone back in his pocket before seeing her little Christmas tree again. Curiosity strikes as a question popped in his head.

"Any reason why you don't have a bigger tree?"

She was caught off guard by his question, following his sight to her tree before getting what he means.

"Oh, you mean that? Well, I'm the only one that lives here. A big tree for one would be pretty weird, honestly."

"But, I thought your Twilight was staying over for the holidays."

Sunset was quiet for a moment before speaking, "She told me that she can stay for a couple of days. After that, she has to head back."

Levin was surprised at that, "Really? That sucks."

"Kind of. She does have friends and family back home."

"What about her sister?"

"She's still deciding on that." He wasn't really surprised, but his point still stands. However, he drops that in exchange for another question.

"...Doesn't it get lonely?" His tone changed upon asking that question, sounding rather caring as he shifts his gaze from the tree to Sunset.

She was quiet for a bit longer than before, making it seem like she was taking time to think about it. After what felt like a whole minute, she spoke.

"Not all the time. My friends help keep the place lively and school more bearable. Honestly, I owe them a lot." She admits before looking at him, "What about you? You have your friends, going to Crystal Prep and even have financial insurance to back you up on top of that."

"Yeah, you're right about that." He was rather monotone with his response, but changes the conversation back to her. "I only ask since... well, I don't like the idea of being alone on the holidays."

"...Oh." Upon him saying that, she remembers the times when she was alone.

Looking back, a lot has changed since her reformation. After the battle with the Dazzlings, her school has finally accepted her new self and she joins the Rainbooms as a new member. A smile forms upon her face as those memories flows through her mind, confusing Levin a bit.

"Guess you're doing fine, then." His voice got her attention, making her look at him with a brief surprised gaze.

"Huh? Sorry, just daydreaming." She admits, getting a little chuckle out of him as a result.

"Figured." He then remembers the time, "Anyways, I better get going before it gets too dark."

"OK, see ya later." She said to him as he walks to the front door.

She was about to go back to the game before seeing him stop at the door, not even going for his bike. He didn't stand there long as he then turns back around to face her.

"Now I know why I asked that!" He blurts out, lowering his voice back to normal soon after. "I wanted to invite you girls over to my place for a little holiday party."

Sunset blinks once as her immediate response before fully processing his offer, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. That way, we can spend more time together." Levin sounds pretty excited about it as he had a big smile on his face.

She couldn't help but smile back as she answers, "OK, sounds like fun."

"Awesome! OK, now I'll be going!" His excitement didn't waver as he takes his bike and leaves the house.

Sunset still had her smile as she turns back to the game to continue playing.

* * *

The moon was able to be seen in the night sky as Adagio looks out her window, who is currently wearing her nighttime attire with her hair fully down. Her mind was preoccupied with what has happened yesterday, replaying over and over in her head as she tries to figure out the cause.

Sonata was never the one to lose her cool, mainly since she was pretty much the most... positive one of the group. After their defeat, it seems like the negative side of her went dormant or something to that effect. Aria was less aggressive, but has her level-headed sarcasm to make up for it.

Upon reflection, she realizes that she hasn't really changed at all. Whenever she was 'nice', it was mainly a front to keep her pent-up frustration in check. All because of that one night...

"Why? Why does this keep bothering me?" She mutters, clenching her hands against the sheets as she did.

Maybe it's just the idea of the Rainbooms themselves, what they represented to her. Ever since the three of them were banished to this world, they were able to adapt and live in this new 'home' of theirs since there was no way to return. With the return of magic, the possibility of having all that power again was within reach, no one to stop them as they were adored by their 'fans'.

Upon encountering the Rainbooms, the three faced their next big challenge as their magic was strong enough to counter their own. It wasn't much at first, since it had to be musical magic to even count as a threat. However, through perseverance and their own overconfidence, the seven girls were able to conjure magic strong enough to shatter their only source of power, the pendants.

Her left hand reflexively reaches up to her chest where the red gem once was, only grasping the air that stood in its place when she realizes what she was doing.

"Wait, is that it?" She sits up as she wonders her action just now.

Was that the answer? Was it their magic that took, no, DESTROYED what they had their ENTIRE LIVES that night? The gems that represented who they were, that had helped them live in this bipedal prison for so long, only to be nothing but red dust in the wind?

Their failure then started this small 'dark age' once they were just normal girls like everyone else. That's when her mind stops, not wanting to revisit those memories again.

"Then, is it not the girls? Just the magic they used?"

This question was more towards her conversation with Sunset, when she lets out this burden she had on her shoulders from being the leader of the three. She still doesn't know why she did, but her best guess is that it just peaked by then. What really surprised her was Sunset's reaction. She kinda expected some sort of resentment towards her, only to be met with sympathy. Her apology had only sincerity when spoken, giving her something else she didn't expect:

Someone to connect with.

Sunset was in a similar position before when the other girls gave her a second chance. The three of them have found theirs, right here.

Maybe that's why Sonata felt the way she did, she knew this. How could she have been so blind? This whole 'revenge scheme' had consumed her, much like the powers of their gems.

"Wait..." That's when it clicked in her head.

Getting up out of her bed, she exits her room and goes to Aria's door before knocking a few times on it. Hopefully, her sister hasn't fallen asleep yet. The door opens, revealing Aria is also in her nighttime attire and her hair also down. She didn't look tired, which is good.

"Hey." Aria simply said.

"Hey." Adagio said back, "I need to talk to you."

Aria stares at her for a moment before speaking, "OK."

She lets Adagio into her room, who just sits down on the corner of the bed as Aria closes her door.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" She asks as she also sits down on her own bed, more towards the middle of the side to be specific.

Adagio decides to just be blunt with her, "This whole 'revenge scheme' we have been planning."

Silence followed her answer for a moment before she was surprised by what breaks it, "You too?"

Adagio looks at her sister with a puzzled expression, the latter having a small smirk on her face in response.

"You're not the only one that was thinking about it." Aria crosses her arms right after saying that.

Adagio got what she meant. The two share being the brains of the group, after all.

"Then, am I right in thinking that... the gems were somehow controlling us after they shattered?" This is the realization that clicked earlier in her head.

Aria blinks once as she processes her question, answering it shortly after.

"I'm not exactly sure about that." She admits before following up with her own question, "What made you come to that conclusion?"

"...What Sonata said got me thinking. Even if we do go through with it, what do we have to gain?"

The two try to come up with some sort of answer for minutes on end, only to come up short. At this point, Aria couldn't help but let out a minor chuckle.

"Funny that Visor proposed the same thing." She remembers her conversation with him as she continues, "Guess he did have a point. But, what does that have to do with the gems?"

"Think about it." Adagio got up to her feet and turns around to face her as she spoke, "When we had them, we were annoyed at each other's antics at best and moved along. Now, we were blinded by revenge that may have separated us instead of them."

Aria understood what she was saying, but one thing wasn't adding up. "If the negative magic went into us after the gems broke, then how come it's disappearing now?"

Adagio thought about that for a moment, her mind recalling what they did beforehand for any clues. The three met Levin, then his friends, then the Rainbooms, then their little return to CHS and meeting the stranger... wait, was that it?

When they figured out that the statue was where the magic came from, they tried to see if it's possible to utilize it. The three then got pushed away by a sudden pulse of energy-

"That magic pulse..." She utters out loud, "That must have been positive energy that weakened the leftover negative energy over time."

"Really? Surprised that the positive side hasn't disappeared instead." Aria had a valid point.

"Maybe their influence was somehow able to change the balance between the two." Adagio counters with, the boys and girls popping into her head as she said it.

"Like some sort of weird scale or something?"

"Seems like it."

Aria lets out a sigh as she rubs her forehead with her fingers, "This is getting confusing..."

Adagio gets what she means and sums up her feelings as of this moment, "...Does this mean we've been fools this whole time?"

"Depends on how you look at it. True, they stopped us from our plans, but it was probably more towards our magic. Then again, we had those gems as long as I can remember..."

Yet another ambiguous answer to their many questions, Adagio groans as she sat back down on the bed corner. "My head hurts now..."

"Then, is there any reason why Sonata wasn't affected as much as us?" Aria proposes a very good question.

This is where the two were stumped. How was that the case? Finally realizing that they might not get an answer to any of them, Adagio lets out a exasperated sigh.

"I don't know... I just want us to not separate over something so pointless." She was just tired at this point.

Aria nods her head in agreement, "She may annoy me sometimes, but she is our sister at the end of the day."

Adagio then looks over at the clock to see it's almost one in the morning, "We'll apologize to her at dawn. She's most likely asleep by now."

"Good, I'm... feeling tired too." Aria yawns in the middle of her sentence, proving her point.

As Adagio got up to her feet to leave the room, she reaches the door before saying one more thing. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Aria simply calls back, getting under her blankets as Adagio leaves the room.

Once she closes the door behind her, Adagio couldn't help but spare a glance at Sonata's door. Funny that the one they thought was just the 'silly' one would actually be the one to teach them something. A small smile forms on her face, going to her own room to then finally go to bed herself.

**And done! Sorta back to my usual pace, but nothing wrong with that. Now, to the breakdown!**

**I looked up what shops they had in this universe and found this candy shop called 'Sweet and Sour'. I liked the name, so I picked it and even expanded upon it a bit, making it a candy shop/diner combo. The next shot was getting Sci-Twi into the 'magic hunt' without actually being involved, for obvious reasons. Also a neat fun fact, this scene was written before I had a root beer float for the first time. (It was delicious :)**

**I continued the scene with Levin and Sunset, wanting to have something in common for the two to share. With the holidays on the horizon, it makes sense that the thought of being alone would be brought up. I didn't want it too long since it's only a simple question. Other than that, I think it came out pretty well.**

**This is yet another big change in terms of character development. I wanted to have this conversation to be an exchange of questions, mainly since they wouldn't know the answers to them, yet still kinda have a picture of what's happened so far. All they do know is where their path has taken them and their attempt at correcting course. More on this later.**

**As usual, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!**


	19. C18: The Idea of Family

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. So, what do we have today:**

**johannvanguard: Thank you very much, I always appreciate it when those scenes work out. We shall see.**

**Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's continue!**

**Chapter 18: The Idea of Family**

Visor was currently sleeping in his bed rather peacefully as the morning sun was slowly rising, the sun's rays shining through his window that he feels on his face. Despite the warmth he felt, the cold air was rather prominent still even with his blankets on top. The quietness of the morning was then interrupted as he hears a familiar click, one that belongs to a camera.

"Mom, are you taking pictures again?" He mutters under his breath.

"Nooo..." Her voice answers, trying not to laugh in the process.

He opens his eyes as he turns over, looking right at his mom who was standing in the center of the room with her signature camera in her hands. Already awake and dressed, she had her long crimson red hair tied in a ponytail by a black scrunchie bracelet that she usually uses it for. Her persimmon orange eyes look at him with a rather funny expression, adding to it her pale light amaranth skin that was currently lit up by the sun outside.

She wore a simple yellow sweater and red pants with black boots as her feet moves her closer to his bed, "Just how long are ya gonna be sleeping today?"

"Well, it's a school day-" He was suddenly cut off as his mom casually interrupts him, "School's closed today."

Visor immediately sat up at this news, "Closed?"

"Yeah. Candid texted me earlier, saying that the snow is getting dangerous for students to get through right now." His mom then points towards the window, "Look for yourself."

He does just that, seeing that the snow outside is practically over two inches at this point. Though, the way the window frames it with the sun in the sky, he sees why she was taking photos earlier.

"Oh, wow. No kidding." He comments on it before feeling his blankets get pulled off.

"Come on, let's get the snow out of the driveway before it gets too slippery." She simply said as she walks towards the door.

"Now?" He was surprised, considering how early it is.

"Yeah, since you're off school today. Nothing like some good old physical labor to wake you up." His mom had pretty good points there.

He only sighs in response as he get out of his bed, standing up to then hear their doorbell ring. His mom goes to answer it as he gets dressed to endure the cold outside.

Opening the front door, it turns out to be Shade with his Aunt Candid. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Sky." The former greets the homeowner.

"Shade, Candid. You didn't tell me you were coming over." Mrs. Sky recalls the texts she read earlier as she reflexively lets the two in, closing the door behind them soon after.

"Well, Shade wanted to come over after hearing school's out." Aunt Candid corrects her on that part.

"Did you walk all the way here?" Mrs. Sky wonders, which Shade answers this time. "I figured since the snowfall was thicker than before, you wouldn't mind some help on cleaning the driveway."

"Is Visor awake yet?" Aunt Candid asks her, making Mrs. Sky chuckle a bit that gave away her answer. "Ataraxy, you sly fox."

"I let him sleep in. He should be done dressing up about..." She stops intentionally as she heard footsteps coming from down the hall.

"Mom, who's at the door?" Visor's voice called out.

"Some familiar faces!" Mrs. Sky calls back, being intentionally vague to mess with him.

Visor came around the corner with a confused expression on his face before seeing their guests, "Oh! Morning, Shade. Mrs. Brace."

"It's past noon, dude." His friend informs him, which he changes his expression to shock.

"What!? Then-" A brief flash blinded him for a moment, disappearing as soon as he realizes what just happened. "Mom!"

"You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to disturb you!" Mrs. Sky nonchalantly excuses her actions as she then looks at the photo she took, "This will be great to have next to the last one."

"Can't wait to see them." Aunt Candid smiles at the result as Shade walks over to his friend.

"There is actually two reasons why I came over." He speaks to Visor in a lower volume, which the latter catches on what he means.

"Yeah. Perfect opportunity to catch the magic." An eager smirk went on Visor's face as he said that.

"Yup. Once we do the driveway, we get Levin and head to CHS." Shade told him the plan.

"And what about them?" Visor gestures with his thumb towards his mom and Mrs. Brace.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Shade admits with a nervous smile.

"Come on, boys! Let's get the tools from the garage!" Mrs. Sky places her camera on a nearby table as she said that.

"Yes, ma'am." Shade responds with right before jogging down the hallway towards where the garage is, Visor following soon after.

"Still lively as ever, aren't they?" Candid asks, walking alongside her friend for a conversation.

"They should, being in high school and all. Don't tell me you're already-" Ataraxy was cut off before finishing by Candid, "No! Just that seeing them like that makes me feel energetic."

"Ah, OK. I was just saying that you still have that youthful energy at your age." Ataraxy finishes what she was talking about.

Candid chuckles at that part, "Said the one who still acts like a teen."

"Good point. Guess the energy stays with some more than others." Ataraxy had a smirk after saying that, making her friend shake her head in response.

"I bet I'm one of them." Candid sounds assured about that part.

"Bet money on that?" A small jab in the arm was Candid's response to Ataraxy's little joke, "Just kidding."

* * *

Adagio and Aria stood outside Sonata's bedroom door, bracing themselves for their attempt to reach out as the two look at each other.

"Ready?" The former asks the latter.

"As I'll ever be." The latter simply answers with, which is enough for Adagio right before she knocks on the door.

They stood there for a couple of seconds to only get nothing but silence, making the two feel a bit worried before she knocks on the door again. Still, silence was the only answer they got in response. Curiosity seeps in as Aria tries the doorknob, which turns out to be unlocked.

The two spare a glance at each other before opening the door, revealing that she wasn't in her bedroom.

"Where did she go?" Aria wonders out loud.

They didn't wait long as their answer came as the front door was starting to unlock downstairs. Figuring that it might be her coming back from somewhere, the two hurried down the stairs and reached the entrance hall as the door opens.

"Hey, you two are awake!" Levin greets the two as he enters, carrying a big pine tree wrapped in rope in his hands in the process.

"What's with the tree?" Aria points out.

"It's our Christmas tree!" He answers, placing the tree on the floor close to the wall.

Looking outside, they saw a truck carrying similar trees in the back as the driver was talking with Sonata outside his window before sharing a wave goodbye. The driver drove off as Sonata quickly jogs up to the open door to enter the house, Levin closing it behind her soon after before locking it.

"I thought you would be in school by now." Adagio was a bit confused on this sudden change.

"Believe it or not, the schools are closed for snow days. Early weekend!" Levin cheers in excitement at that with a smile, "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go place a pot for the tree to stay alive."

He then quickly walks off, leaving the three sisters alone for the time being. Sonata looks at them with a rather sad smile as she tries to start a conversation.

"I was already awake by the time he heard about it." She briefly explains to them, "I didn't want to wake you two up for something you might not like to do."

The two were surprised by her consideration despite their current heat, but quickly recover to continue their discussion.

"How nice of you. Look, we need to talk to you about what happened the day before." Adagio didn't waste time beating around the bush, which Sonata drops her smile at this.

"What about it?" Her tone was a bit somber at the memory resurfacing, but it was for good reason.

"About the whole 'revenge' thing. What you said... kinda puts our goals into perspective." Aria wasn't used to being sympathetic often, but she is capable of such.

"It did." Adagio bluntly corrects her, which Aria eventually repeated. "...It did."

"It did?" Sonata also repeats, more so out of surprise.

"Yes. We were really just going through this cycle of anger and stress, rambling and complaining about the Rainbooms and what they did to us." Adagio recalls last night during this sentence, as it honestly sums up what she feels right now.

"We were pretty bad back then. That in itself was eventually gonna bring in the 'goody two-shoes' to stop us in our tracks." Aria adds in, "Once we figured that part out, it was down to whether or not we just accept the consequences and move on with our lives."

Sonata was now astonished at what she's hearing, her sisters are actually admitting this in front of her! But why would this be?

Adagio steps a bit closer to her before speaking once more with sincerity in her voice, "And we might have not realized this without you telling us. So, we're sorry for putting you through all that."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Aria simply repeats in her own way, but still as sincere.

Sonata just stood there, processing all that had just transpired. The two were a bit concerned about her state, only to then see her shed a tear before pulling them into a big hug.

"I... I..." She couldn't even form words at this point, only sobbing left her lips as her sisters hug her back.

"We're staying together, no matter what." Adagio simply said as her eyes started to tear up.

Aria simply nods in agreement, tears forming in her eyes as well as their hug held on longer.

Levin had already came back, but stayed behind the corner to avoid interrupting their little heart-to-heart. Admittedly, he has to wipe the tears from his eyes near the end to avoid suspicion since he still needs to get the tree. Peeking around the corner to make sure they weren't looking, he carefully moves around it and gently drags it across the floor into the living room.

Once he places the tree in the stand pot he set up that was placed near the wall in between the stairs and the kitchen, he then carefully removes the rope to avoid damaging the pine before wrapping it up. Taking the extra time to do so, he then quickly goes to the garage to put away the rope and comes back inside to then head upstairs to get the box of decorations.

After some time, the three girls let go of each other before drying their eyes and regaining their composures.

"Thank you! I-I don't know what to say." Sonata admits.

"No need." Adagio reassures her before realizing something, "I think Levin may be done by now."

"Oh right, he wants us to decorate the tree together!" Sonata remembers before eagerly walking into the living room.

The two follow after her as Levin was coming back down with the box, "All right, now for the fun part!"

Sonata was doing short hops up and down as he places the box down near the tree was, opening it to reveal various decorations with the lights neatly wrapped up on top. Getting the obvious part out of the way, he takes the lights and starts to undo them as the girls were curious about what else was inside.

"Do you girls celebrate the holidays often?" Levin wonders as he was carefully unwrapping the lights.

"We try to. Some more than others, but we do for a little bit of fun." Adagio answers, pulling out a strange homemade ornament as she does.

"Aww, it's a kitty!" Sonata points out, making Levin glance for a second to see.

"Yeah it is, I made that when I was in fifth grade for arts and crafts." Levin reminisces just as he finishes unfurling the lights.

He then goes ahead and starts wrapping them around the tree from top to bottom as Aria pulls out a rather interesting photo with a hook placed on the top of the small frame. Showing the other two what she held in her hand, the three grew curious on who they were looking at.

"Is this your mom and dad?" She asks as he reaches the bottom before suddenly stopping.

"I'm sorry?" Levin didn't catch their question, wanting to make sure he heard right.

Aria turns the photo around for him to see, his face changing to a saddened expression once he realizes what he sees.

It was indeed a photo of his parents with a younger him in the middle, back when the two were home most of the time. His hair was down and shorter in length as he has a big toothy smile on his face as he held a big stuffed bear from winning one of the games at the carnival.

His father was on his right with an equally big toothy smile, holding the camera at an angle for the three to fit in the frame. He has neat black hair that reaches the top of his ears and the bangs covering his forehead, ruby red eyes, and light tangelo skin. He wore a black t-shirt, a silver digital watch on his left wrist, and blue pants.

His mother was on his left with a closed-mouthed smile that conveys equal joy, her hands on his shoulders to keep him still. She has navy blue hair with yellow highlights cut in a bowl-shaped hairstyle, her bangs neatly combed to the right to show her sapphire eyes, and pale amberish gray skin. She wore a yellow t-shirt under a blue vest and gray shorts.

He took the photo and looks at it with a distant gaze in his eyes, "Yeah, this is them." He confirms to the three.

"You look really happy in that." Sonata points out the obvious.

Levin looks up at them for a second before looking back at the photo, "Yep. Won my first carnival game and got my prize, so my dad immediately took this for the occasion. One of the best days we had, honestly."

He then realizes that the mood shifted a bit from what he intended as he stands up and places the photo on one of the branches, "OK, get ready."

Going back down for a moment, he plugs the lights into a nearby wall outlet to turn them on. Multiple colors shine all round the tree as the girls took in the image, him stepping back to where they were to see for himself.

"Cool, right?" He rhetorically asks them, "I usually see just one or two colors on other people's trees, so I figured why not all of them."

"As we can see." Adagio simply said, "Did your younger self do this?"

"...Maybe." He admits, rubbing the back of his neck soon after.

"It's very pretty." Sonata compliments the creative choice before pulling out another ornament from the box, "And we're gonna make it pop!"

Levin smiles at her enthusiasm, "Oh yeah!"

Adagio and Aria were not as obvious, but might be lying if they weren't excited at least a little bit.

* * *

The Rainbooms are currently hanging at Pinkie's house after finding out that school was cancelled, now wondering on what to do on their early weekend. So far, they have been tossing a couple of suggestions around like darts at a dartboard with none hitting bullseye yet.

"Are you sure you don't wanna have another snowball fight?" Pinkie sounded a bit disappointed about that.

"With the snow as it is now, it's probably best that we-" Sunset was then cut off by a sudden slam from up above, on the roof of the house.

The slam was tamed compared to what follows after as a loud sliding sound was heard, hurting their eardrums until finishing with an abrupt stop.

"AAAAAA-!"

A voice screams as the person fell to the ground, right into the pile of snow that was up against Pinkie's window. All the girls saw as a result was a bandaged hand half-buried near the glass.

"Why was someone on your roof?" Fluttershy asks her friend, who simply shrugged.

"No idea! Let's ask him!" Pinkie was rather casual about this as she walks over to the window.

Unlocking it, she then pulls it up to let in the cool air as she then spoke to the unfortunate person. "Excuse me, why were you on the roof!?"

The hand sprung to life in response, making a gesture to send the message of grabbing and pulling it out. Pinkie caught on instantly, doing just that as she pulls the stranger into her room through the window. Her friends were surprised at first before coming in to help out, easing the man onto the floor before Pinkie closes the window back up.

"OK, Ah know you're trying to help, but did you really had to drag him inside instead of going out yourself?" Applejack questions why.

"Of course, silly! He might freeze out there if I didn't!" Pinkie had a good point there.

Speaking of the man, he was shivering quite a bit as he tries to get up to his feet. Pinkie runs off to the kitchen as Applejack takes the nearest blanket and wraps it around the man to warm him up.

"T-Thank you." He mutters before being placed in a nearby chair to sit.

"So, why were you on the roof?" Rainbow questions, which is still important to know.

"W-Would you believe I'm a roof inspector?" The man answers with a little joke, which didn't make anyone laugh. "Y-Yeah, of course not."

"Here you go!" Pinkie comes back with a mug filled with hot chocolate, handing it to the man who gladly accepts it.

"Thank you-" The man then realizes who she was, "Pinkie, a pleasure to meet you again."

"Oh yeah, you were the gentleman who was short on change before. What brings you to my humble abode?" She carries the conversation on so casually as the other girls were processing what they were hearing.

"My usual travel method has been malfunctioning recently. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until about... oh, about a minute ago?" The man admits.

Before Pinkie continued, Rarity pulls her away for a sec to ask her what was going on. "Do you know this man, Pinkie?"

"Yup! He showed up at the cafe right after you guys left." She recalls their meeting as she answered. "I think his name is... Eon?"

"Aeon." The man finally introduces himself before taking a sip of his coco, "These are your friends, correct?"

"Yup! This is Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Sunset, and Twilight!" The hyperactive girl gestures to who's who in one swift motion.

His eyes looks at each girl present until focusing on Twilight, who simply gives a nervous smile in response.

"I-I'm sorry for staring, but I think I met you two days ago." That comment has their full attention, "Y-You wore glasses and had your hair tied in a bun. Even having the same name."

"You might have met her twin!" Pinkie simply said as the answer for it.

"Really? Well, what are the odds?" Aeon was rather intrigued by that, more towards the coincidence of that happening.

"Yeah, my long-lost sister. Don't worry, we get that a lot." Pri-Twi hesitantly adds before quickly changing the topic, "So, your travel method is rooftops? Kinda strange to do with snow outside."

"You're telling me. Especially since this part of the city has the houses spread pretty far from each other." Sunset deduces, adding more questions for them.

Aeon then gets up and takes another sip of hot coco before putting it down on the desk, "All right, I'll tell you."

The girls were confused by this until he dramatically pulls off the blanket, it landing neatly on the bed, before an instant flash of light appears in his right hand.

"This is my travel method." He holds up a rather interesting cane, the 'hilt' of the handle designed to resemble an eagle.

"Ooo, his cane just appeared like magic!" That claim made him smirk at her, giving them the answer right there.

"Wait, you know about magic too!?" Rainbow was understandably surprised at this.

"Says the ones who also know about it." Aeon simply responds back with, "Not exactly subtle about it, either."

"Says the one who came crashing down." Sunset retorts, which got an actual laugh out of him.

This lasted for a moment before he spoke, "All right, I'll give you that one. Though, as for how I knew..."

He then lifts the cane up a bit, the 'eyes' of the eagle head glowing with energy as he moves his arm slowly in a sweeping motion.

"My cane is able to detect abnormal energy within the souls of others, which I feel in an instant." He briefly explains, "Ever since that day, I knew I had to observe you all for the time being."

"For how long, exactly?" Sunset questions, feeling a bit on guard for what this meant.

"I could simply say long enough, but that wouldn't be much of an answer." Aeon then walks back over to the chair he sat in before, taking a seat right back in it before grabbing his mug of hot coco. "Feel free to prepare some snacks, for I shall tell a little story of how I know all of you."

**And done! Well, this has been quite the turn of events, snow day included.**

**She has been mentioned in the early parts of the story, but the mother of Visor has finally made her appearance! It took me quite awhile to put her in a chapter, mainly since I keep forgetting to, but better late than never. This was also a good opportunity to bring back Aunt Candid after a few chapters. Honestly, those two elements made this scene with a small bit between Visor and Shade of their plan.**

**Oh, my heart! Not gonna lie, I was a bit emotional when I was writing the Dazzlings talking to each other. Short and sweet, the three has found their strength again. Soon after that, Levin has them join in decorating their new tree. I was kinda hesitant on having the whole sequence of them doing the decorations, but it wasn't my main focus for this scene in particular.**

**Aeon has finally met the Humane Six and Pri-Twi after all this time... or did he? Well, not face-to-face like now, but he will explain this soon enough. That's right, for one chapter only, Aeon is taking the spotlight as he tells us his side of the story while Levin and the others were doing their thing. More on that later.**

**And now, I have a little announcement. For those who have known me just for this story, this was originally gonna be part of a crossover series that I did last year. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to incorporate the stories that my OCs appear in for the other main characters effectively. Soon afterwards, I felt a bit burned out from it and wanted to move on with other projects.**

**After some serious consideration and motivation, I have brought it back with the third story in the lineup:**

**Persona EG: Lunar Star!**

**I expanded on my thoughts and more in the debut chapter, but I am continuing it alongside the other main stories.**

**With all of that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!**


	20. C19: The Other Side

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic! As usual, before we dive into it, what do we have today?**

**johannvanguard: Glad you liked them, of course. A man with many mysteries is one that has many stories.**

**Thanks for the feedback! Now, let's dive in!**

**Chapter 19: The Other Side**

"Let's see, where should I begin?" Aeon narrates his little story to the girls from the earliest memory he recalls, "Ah! It was a couple of days ago that I came to this establishment known as the Sweet Snacks Cafe. I had arrived to enter when you all were just leaving, politely moving to the side as to not be rude. That, was when my cane started to glow. And it stayed that way as I was sitting in the restaurant-"

"Was it because of me!?" Pinkie interrupts the man mid-sentence to finish his thought.

"Correct. So, after my simple meal and returning to the portal, I discover that three other girls were snooping around the statue and shooed them away shortly after."

"Three other girls?" Sunset mutters under her breath, but kept it to herself as he told his story.

* * *

_Aeon stands in front of the CHS statue, knowing the portal is currently active as he holds up his cane to line it up at the center. Once he got it, he stabs almost the entirety of his cane into the magical energy to absorb at least a sample of it for research-_

_WHOOSH!_

_Only for the portal to have generated a strong gust of wind somehow, almost losing grip of his cane as it launches him into the air. He was quick to recover and land on his feet, now on edge as his eyes briefly caught something._

_It was blink or miss... but he swore that he saw an orb of dark energy._

* * *

"Dark energy? Are you sure?" Pri-Twi was understandably concerned about this, considering that it was the gateway between her world and the parallel one.

Aeon nods with certainty, "Unfortunately yes, princess."

The group was surprised at the formal title he mentions rather straight with no hint of joking, which adds to his knowledge of them as he continued.

"And it was something that I hoped wouldn't be a threat after so long, but I digress. Once I returned to my apartment and stored the magic energy I did get, that was when my observation began the next day. I believe the first two were..."

* * *

_"What did ya want to show me, Rarity?" AJ asks her friend, who was leading the way to the boutique._

_"This!" Turns out, it was specifically the two display windows as she has some new designs to show her friend._

_A dress and a suit were paired together in each one, both themed around the winter and Christmas respectively as AJ comments on it._

_"Interesting. Though, I'm surprised that you did suits this time around."_

_"It's something different and I rarely ever have the inspiration to actually make one. After we met the boys, I didn't want to leave them out of the question if they wanted to get something fancy." Rarity gives a brief explanation on that part._

_"That's mighty kind of ya. Now uh, what are they based on? I know that one is obvious, but still." AJ wonders out loud._

_Rarity points to the obvious one first, "These two are Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. They do have hats, but that is an option since a lot of people tend to have one anyways."_

_She then points to the less obvious pair, "Now these two are more so on the idea of winter. White sheets of snow combining with the blue reflective ice underneath suits the suit-" She chuckles a bit at her own joke, which AJ smirks at before the former continues._

_"As the dress has the clouds at the top, raining down beautiful snowflakes down to the snow below against the blue skies."_

_"Not gonna lie, that sounds pretty cool." AJ then realizes what she said and lets out a small sigh, "Now ya got me doing it."_

_"Oh come on, I liked it." Rarity gives a compliment to her, mainly to make her not feel embarrassed about it._

_"Yeah, sure ya did." AJ simply said as the two then went off to do their own thing._

_Unbeknownst to the two, Aeon was sitting on the roof above as he listened to their entire conversation. Fashion wasn't one of his main hobbies, but the way that Rarity described her work made him curious on the clothes themselves. Seeing that they were far away at this point, he casually hops down to the ground below to see the wardrobe she designed. Admittedly, if the occasion arises, he would wear the suits since they were rather nice._

_However, while there wasn't any mention of magic, the boys he does knows from yesterday that were with them at the time. Funny enough, he recalls meeting one of them this morning. He had a nice skateboard._

* * *

"Glad you liked them." Rarity was flattered at his compliments of her designs.

"But of course, I even bought one yesterday." Aeon admits before getting back on topic, "Anyways, finding myself not getting much from you two, the next ones were-"

"Hang on, how did you know that Twilight is a princess?" Rainbow interrupts with a legit question.

Aeon looks at her for a moment before smirking, "I'm saving the best ones for last. Though funny enough that you spoke, since the next two I watched were..."

* * *

_"Thanks for volunteering, Fluttershy!" Rainbow said as she was juggling the soccer ball with her knees, "Everyone else on the team is busy, but I really wanna get some practice in for the Games."_

_"Oh, no problem. I wasn't really planning anything for today." Fluttershy didn't mind helping out as she stood in front of the goal net._

_"All right, ready?" Rainbow double checks for her friend's safety, who gives her a nervous thumbs up in response._

_As the practice session went underway, Aeon stood on the corner of the roof that lined up with the goalpost as he watches. Perhaps he can get a glimpse of the magic they have in a physical activity, since words aren't the only way to find out the truth. Watching the two, Rainbow was quite athletic with her form and shots as the kicks made the ball launch and curve in various ways to reach the net with her friend occasionally hitting the ball away. However, it was kinda obvious that she was getting into it as Fluttershy was flinching at the close calls._

_"Um Rainbow, can you please be more-" Her words fell on deaf ears as Rainbow launches a kick that harshly curves the ball, right towards her friend as she had that realization..._

_Only for it to miss. Wait, what?_

_She wasn't sure how, but the ball just took a sudden ninety degree turn away from the current path, preventing any sort of damage. Fluttershy had her eyes closed in fear of getting hit before opening them back up, seeing that nothing happened._

_"Oh, I guess I assumed a bit too much." She admits._

_However, Rainbow wasn't ready to dismiss that as just a fluke. "Hey, do you mind moving for a sec?"_

_Fluttershy did just that, a bit curious as to what her friend was going to do. She passes the ball back to Rainbow, who places it back on the ground in front of her. Taking two steps back, she then delivers a kick that replicated the previous curve shot, which went into the net as it should._

_"That's so weird." Rainbow scratches her head at this._

_"Is what weird?" Fluttershy asks out of curiosity._

_"No joke, the ball took the sharpest curve I have ever seen!" Rainbow emphasizes her point by using her arm to show what she means._

_"Really? You sure it wasn't... a secret technique of some sort?" Fluttershy doesn't know sports all that well, only taking a shot in the dark._

_"I seriously doubt that." Rainbow dismisses that possibility anyways._

_Unbeknownst to them, it was Aeon who moved the ball in such a way. He was holding his cane like a sniper rifle, having fired a simple 'bullet' of energy to ricochet it away from Fluttershy as he lowers his cane a bit. He watches them practice some more, which thankfully didn't need his interference again during it. After some time, the two wrap up their session as they went towards the doors to the school with him watching from above._

_"I'm surprised that you didn't think of asking the boys to join you." Fluttershy wonders out loud._

_"I kind of did. Turns out, I had none of their numbers." Rainbow admits, "Sucks too, Visor seems like a good opponent to go up against."_

_"Actually, I don't think we even brought it up."_

_"Well that's the next thing we should..." Her voice trails off as the doors close behind them when they enter the building._

_Once again, Aeon finds himself hearing about these boys again. This time, one of their names was mentioned as he gently rubs his finger against his chin in thought._

_"Shade, Levin, and now Visor." He repeats the names in his head before walking off, heading to meet the third one._

* * *

"Wait, YOU were the one that made the ball move like that?" Rainbow points her finger at him as she spoke.

"I did mention doing that, so..." Aeon casually answers back.

"Thank you." The others look right at Fluttershy after she said that, "Um, for doing that."

"You are very welcome." He smiles at her kind words before moving on, "Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with the process of elimination."

"Yup. That just leaves Sunset and Twilight." AJ gestures to the two as she mentions them.

Aeon looks at the remaining duo as the former speaks up, "And I can guess how he knows about us."

"Then shall we continue?" He simply said as their part of the story starts.

* * *

_Aeon casually walks across the sidewalk on one end of the street as Sunset and Pri-Twi were walking to the former's home, listening in with his naturally enhanced hearing as the girls converse about the two worlds._

_"I still find it weird that Tirek is this 'video game' character in this world." The latter admits, for obvious reasons._

_"I'm surprised that you actually fought him." Sunset was flat out impressed by her friend's accomplishment, "And even had him on the back foot, I mean hoof."_

_"Only because I had the princesses' magic with me." Pri-Twi clarifies why she could._

_"Must have been tough controlling that much power." Sunset imagines the silly stuff that may or may not happened during that time._

_Pri-Twi chuckles a bit at one particular moment, "I made the sun and moon look like a game of ping pong..."_

_The two shared a laugh at the imagery for the moment, Aeon becoming more and more curious by the second. However, the two have reached their destination as they enter the house, leaving him out of the conversation. He isn't gonna stop now though as he tosses his cane to the roof, teleporting safely upon it before quietly moving out of view to avoid suspicion. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he can hear their voices through the windows as the conversation continues._

_"How are your friends doing over there, by the way?" Sunset asks out of curiosity._

_"Good. They recovered well from our Cutie Map adventure." Pri-Twi answers soon after, "Though, it's been about a week since then. Probably should check on them when I get back."_

_"Sounds like a good idea." Sunset agrees with that as she was making some hot chocolate, "Do you want marshmallows with yours?"_

_"Sure." Pri-Twi simply said in response, "Just two is fine."_

_Sunset then pulls out a bag of marshmallows, "Unlike Pinkie, she usually wants enough to make a face. Which I swear is sentient, cause it would be happy at first before turning into a frown sometimes."_

_"Oh, you notice that too." Pri-Twi didn't really sound surprised about that._

_"...Wait, has that happened before?"_

_"It's Pinkie Pie."_

_Sunset realizes that made sense, in the weird sort of way. "Good point."_

_Aeon gets what they mean, that waitress has a strangeness that isn't magic, but not real at the same time. He lost count of how many things that couldn't be explained. The supernatural, the magical elements, ancient artifacts, the list goes on._

_Getting back to the conversation, he then overhears something that got his full attention._

_"You know, I don't think I've ever asked you. What did you do to keep the portal open?" Sunset questions._

_"Oh, I'm using the journal I write to you with to power a special machine that keeps it activated." Pri-Twi briefly explains to her friend._

_"Really? That's pretty clever." Sunset compliments her on before taking a sip of her hot chocolate._

* * *

"It's actually not." Aeon denies that comment as the others were starting to be more concerned.

"Then do you mind telling us what this dark energy could be?" Sunset spoke up to demand answers at this point.

The girls agree with her as they waited for the answers, which Aeon didn't mind to answer.

"That dark energy... is a fragment of an entity that was sealed in Limbo a long time ago. It feeds on negativity it finds in whoever it infects and brings them out to make them go berserk. As long as no one is nearby, it should eventually fade away."

"And how long will that take?" Pri-Twi obviously needs to know since she can't stay for too long, having princess duties and all that.

"Sadly, I have no idea." That wasn't what she wanted to hear.

Rainbow then got up to her feet in a fit of frustration, "Can you stop being so vague!?"

"...Sorry, habit." Aeon casually quips back in response, "Anyways, that's not why I came here."

The girls were confused as he starts to explain, "Those boys you recently became friends with, I recommend keeping a close eye on them. Their little 'magic hunt' they're on will bring them to the portal the first chance they get."

Upon saying that last part, he notices the girls come to a realization as Applejack spoke. "Wait, it's a snow day today. Ya'll don't think that-"

"The boys would too! I wonder what they would be doing?" Pinkie nonchalantly exclaims, making the others give her a stern stare.

"I believe they may be going to find the portal!" Rarity shook her friend as she emphasizes what they may be planning.

"Oh!" Pinkie simply said before saying it again in shock, "OH!"

"And if they are as smart as they seem, no doubt they will deduce that your school is the source." Aeon goes on to say, making Sunset have another realization.

"They already did! Levin was asking me about where the portal was yesterday!"

Silence fell upon the room for what felt like hours until Aeon breaks it, "Well... good thing this house is just one straight run from the school."

It was so sudden as the girls instantly ran full speed out of the room and out the house, after getting into their winter coats and stuff, towards the school as Aeon casually finishes his hot chocolate, putting the empty mug back down on the nearby desk.

"And now, the curtain call." He said to himself as he gets up to his feet and heads out towards the school at his own pace.

**And done! While this chapter was Aeon's time in the spotlight, it didn't have to be too long.**

**I didn't really have an idea of how to do the transition scenes in between the flashbacks, which is why they are so short. As for the flashbacks themselves...**

**The first one is a simple one, being the first time he hears about the girls being friends with the boys. That and to show his interest in fashionable attire, as indicated by his own.**

**The second one is a bit more interesting as it shows a bit of his skills with his own magic, along with hearing more about the boys that gave him a bad feeling.**

**The third one is where he learns about the other world and how the portal is still active, leading to the current events.**

**And with that said, we are nearing the climax of our story! Oh yeah! It's been a long time coming, but we are close to the finish line!**

**Until next time, thanks for reading and I'll see you later!**


	21. C20: The Silver Bullet

**Hello, fellow readers! And welcome... to the climax! It has been almost a year since I started this story, and my god was it worth it! As you can no doubt tell, I've been ready for this for a long time as I imagine many outcomes for what is about to transpire. And now, we're about to see if I can deliver on that.**

**So, before we begin, what do we have:**

**johannvanguard: Glad you like it, man! Those questions will be answered... right now!**

**Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it! With that said, let's do this!**

**Chapter 20: The Silver Bullet**

Earlier, Visor's house

"All right, that should do." Ataraxy calls out to the others, signaling them to stop their work.

The driveway was cleaned rather nicely after it was all said and done as the four look at a job well done.

"And you wonder why I don't like the snow." Visor casually comments from all the snow they shoveled.

"As I told you and Levin, it's just frozen rain." Shade recalls from one of their conversations a couple of days ago before getting an idea, "That reminds me! I texted Levin earlier, he wants to hang out when we get the free time."

Visor knows what he was going for and plays along, "I shouldn't be surprised. Mom! May we hang out with Levin!?"

"Well, the driveway is finished and I don't have any other chores in mind..." Ataraxy goes down the very short list before answering, "Go ahead, have fun!"

"Thanks!" The boys made sure to put the shovels they had in hand back in the garage before heading out, "Love you!"

"Love you too!" Ataraxy calls back as the two were going down the street in the direction where Levin's house is.

"Bet it's that 'magic hunt' again." Candid comments on the boys' plans for today.

"It is. Those boys never quit when they have their minds on something."

* * *

Soon after, Levin's house

Levin reaches the bottom of the staircase from putting the remaining decorations away as the girls looking at the tree they finished working on, Sonata practically beaming as she lets out a cheer.

"All right! This is the best tree ever!"

"Of course it is." Aria simply agrees with her.

"Now, we just need to put presents under it and it's complete." Adagio points out before turning to Levin who was walking past them towards the kitchen, "Isn't that right?"

"Yup. But first, I was thinking of eating something. We're eating leftovers, all right? No ifs, ands or buts." He didn't leave room for protest, which the girls got the picture with a simple shrug.

Right before Levin opens the fridge, he feels his phone vibrate and pulls it out to see he got a message. It was from Visor:

_V: Day off, CHS, magic time, be there soon_

_L: I'll be ready then_

"One of your friends texted you?" He turns around to see Sonata looking at him with a curious expression.

"Yeah, he's very eager for us to finish our 'magic hunt' since we have a day off." Levin honestly answers with a smirk, "You girls don't mind if I leave for a bit?"

"Funny that you mention that..." Adagio spoke up, "I was thinking of talking to you about the whole magic thing."

Levin puts his phone in his pocket before addressing her suggestion, "Actually, I have a few questions of my own."

"Oh?" The three were a bit surprised at this and understandably so.

"Ladies first, if you want." He decides to wait his turn to hear what she has to say.

"...Very well." Adagio took the lead in the conversation as she spoke, "I've heard about this little 'magic hunt' that you three are doing. Tell me, what would you think if what you find turns out to be something... much bigger than what you expected?"

Levin was processing what she meant by bigger as he wonders out loud, "Like how big, exactly?"

"Try a portal to another reality." Aria steps in at this point, "You know, somewhere that's much different than how your world works."

"Like different dimensions?" He was getting excited by that aspect, "Oh, that would be... so cool!"

"Then, what if those from there came here?" Sonata was a bit on the nose with that one, but tries to keep it from being too obvious.

He gave that one a bit more thought before making a deduction, "Well, two things are possible from this. Either the beings are unchanged and are currently hiding in the world since they have no way back or..."

He then looks directly at them, "They gained human forms and are living among us as best they could without revealing their true natures."

The girls were a bit on edge after that, drawing conclusions that he knows more than they thought he did, which he goes on to explain.

"I'll sadly admit, I unintentionally eavesdropped on some of the argument you three had, and I caught a hint or two that may have eluded to your past history. I didn't want to assume or intrude on any of you about it back then as I wanted to get to know you as who you are and not what you were."

They listen closely as his words came out as sincere, even a bit sad as he told them this. He then looks at them with a serious gaze, "Now that I know you all, is it true that you are from this 'other world'?"

"...Yes." Sonata was the first one to answer, "We are Sirens that were banished from our home and sent here."

"Hence the 'old man', right?" He recalls from their first meeting.

"Well, there is an old man at the hotel we stayed at, but yeah." Aria casually answers.

"Then am I right in saying that there is a portal still somewhere in this world?" Levin was back to getting excited about this.

"Yup! It's where that horse statue is." Adagio and Aria were caught a bit off guard by Sonata's answer.

"Really!? The one at-" The four were then interrupted by the doorbell, followed by a familiar voice.

"Yo, let's go!"

"Give me a sec!" Levin calls back as he quickly runs over to get his coat, "We'll continue when I get back."

"Please, be careful!" Sonata was the only one to say something in response as the other two were still processing what was happening.

"Don't worry, I'll be back!" Those were the last words they heard from Levin before he headed out the door, closing it behind him and locking it.

Adagio finally regained her composure before speaking, "Why did you tell him that?"

"They'll find it anyways." Sonata rationalizes her answer to her sister, "Saving them the trouble by doing that."

"...I have a bad feeling about this." Aria said out loud, "We should follow them."

"Definitely." Adagio instantly agrees with her as the two went to get their winter attire.

Sonata understood the bad vibe that Aria was feeling, but was still a bit hesitant since she doesn't think something bad would happen... or rather, she hopes nothing bad will happen. Not wanting to chance it, she goes with her sisters to see for herself.

* * *

Current time, Canterlot High

Sunset and her friends were running through the chilling cold towards their high school in hopes of stopping the boys from finding the portal, ignoring the stinging breathing in their lungs as they knew slowing down was not an option. Rainbow was ahead of the group with Applejack close behind, the two being most physically fit along with Pinkie who can just do so because she's Pinkie, the others kept up as best they could when Rarity looks to her left.

To her surprise, she sees the boys across the street also running towards the school while conversing among themselves.

"Are you sure you heard her right about the statue!?" Shade was heard talking, even over the wind blowing past her.

"Yeah! Sunset told me that it wasn't in the school, because she's right! It was outside!" Levin briefly explains to him.

"Then come on, we're almost-!" Visor puts them back on the task at hand before seeing the girls on the sidewalk across from them.

Rarity couldn't help but stare as the others look at where she's looking, Pinkie simply smiling and waving being the exception. Shade and Levin follows their friend's gaze and saw the girls, everyone coming to the same conclusion before going full speed towards their destination.

Upon reaching the sidewalk that the school had in front of the courtyard, the two groups were neck and neck right before reaching the statue, ending with Sunset doing something rather unexpected to stop at least one of them in their tracks:

Diving right for them.

Surprisingly, she manages to tackle one to the snow below and stop the person behind him in the process. Lifting herself back up, she finds out that she got Shade pinned down as his face was buried a bit in the snow.

"Not sure which is worse, the cold snow... or this pain... in my chest." He was being a bit dramatic, though her tackle may have knocked the wind out of him.

Rainbow and Applejack were blocking off Visor as the others were looking on to make sure they stay put, "Oh come on! You're stopping us now!?" He was understandably annoyed at this.

"Pretty much, yeah." The group look at the familiar voice that had recently arrived via teleportation, "You're about to mess with something you don't understand."

Shade and Visor recognized the speaker, "Aeon? What are you talking about!?" The latter questions, which he gets an immediate response.

"Simply put, dark energy is lingering at that portal right now. If it gets out, the last thing you'd be getting is a reward for your efforts."

The two boys were perplexed by this before Shade spoke up, "Dark en- so wait, how do you guys know this?"

"He actually just told us a few minutes ago." Sunset answers this time, which was true.

"And you believe someone you just met over us!?" Visor had a very good point there.

"Well considering our experiences before, this isn't really new to us." Pinkie casually answers, making him think for a second before realizing something.

"It was you guys... the cause of those rainbows!"

"Wait, what?" Shade is processing what he just heard as Sunset clarifies for them, "He's right. The first one was against me and the second one was against the Dazzlings."

"What!?" The two was pretty much stunned at this, trying to take in all this new info dumped upon them.

Aeon was admittedly a bit amused at this exchange, until he realizes something. "Hold! Why do I only see two of you!?"

The girls just realized this too as Shade and Visor were strangely confused, "What do you mean, he was right behind-" The latter looks behind himself to see no one, adding to where he might be now.

Aeon immediately knew where however, quickly turning towards the statue to see Levin reaching his hand inside the portal.

"STOP!" He shouts as he was getting ready to throw his cane for another teleport, getting the boy's attention in the process.

What Levin didn't see as he was quickly moving his arm out... was the dark energy fragment getting bigger inside the portal itself. Aeon hesitated just for a moment at the shocking revelation of his own miscalculation.

"AAAHHH!" The others then heard a piercing scream as Levin was swallowed by a sudden wave of dark magical energy, slamming into the front of the school before wrapping itself around its victim in the air above.

"Levin!" Visor ran on instinct, wanting to help his friend before being stopped by Aeon.

"Idiot, you'll be corrupted too!"

"I don't care, I want-"

"Don't play the hero, boy!"

Visor was ready to shout right back, only to stop when he sees Aeon's face. While his tone was fierce, his expression was one he recognized... sorrow. Begrudgingly, he steps back as the others watch on, after Sunset got Shade back on his feet.

"This looks similar to when I had the crown..." The former mutters to herself.

"You're right, and I think history is about to repeat itself." Pri-Twi agrees with her before a sudden gust of wind burst through the area like a powerful storm.

"Get back!" Aeon warns them, which they do just that as he slowly backs away to prepare himself.

Thankfully, he kept his guard up as large charges of electricity were gathering into the dark sphere above, fueling it as if it was a source of the new host's power and forming a thunderstorm in the process.

* * *

The Dazzlings were currently running into the suburbs before almost stopping in their tracks as they hear what sounded like thunder, only to look up and see storm clouds above where CHS is located.

"Oh no..." Sonata felt that bad feeling getting stronger as the three sped up a bit to see what was going on.

"Isn't that Twilight over there?" Aria suddenly spoke up, getting her sisters' attention to where she was looking.

As it turns out, Sci-Twi was currently running towards the storm with some sort of device in her hands that had its readings going haywire.

"It is!" Sonata was glad to see her again as she adjusts her direction to reach her friend with the other two following behind her, "Hi, Twilight!"

Sci-Twi responds to her name being called, which she gives a small smile to who she sees. "Sonata, hi."

"Hey, it's been awhile. Meet my sisters, Adagio and Aria." Sonata briefly introduces the two to her, which they give their little gestures in response before getting back to the task at hand.

"Hi." Sci-Twi simply said to them as her greeting before getting back on task, "I assume you three are seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Clear as day, or rather cloudy." Aria answers, "Most likely, Levin and his friends are there right now."

"Wait, what!?" Sci-Twi was understandably surprised at this.

"We'll explain on the way!" Adagio simply said to her in response as the four kept up their pace in order to reach the storm.

* * *

The clouds themselves were swirling around the dark sphere like a vortex, absorbing into it as the others were trying to figure out what to do at a safe enough distance.

"OK, what did you do in order to defeat me?" Sunset took initiative in coming up with a plan, starting with the previous time this happened.

"The magic of friendship, of course." Pri-Twi honestly answers, though it didn't add much to their situation.

"Before the rainbows?"

"Oh! Not much really."

"OK, we can still think of something." Sunset then turns to Shade and Visor, who were understandably stunned by what is happening.

"You said that you've done this before?" The latter looks at the girls as he said this, "Like, facing something... like this?"

"Not something that can create thunderstorms, but yeah." Pri-Twi answers.

Shade simply looks at the dark sphere for a moment longer before averting his eyes to Aeon, who was simply standing there as if he was waiting for something.

"Whatever we come up with, it seems that Aeon has a plan." He said to the others, who notices what he was talking about.

"Wait, is he actually gonna FIGHT that!?" Rainbow was bewildered at that part, "How is he gonna fight a STORM!?"

"Ah don't think the storm is gonna be the problem..." Applejack corrects her friend, pointing towards the dark sphere in the process.

The group watches as the sphere was slowly descending down to the ground, the clouds converging into it entirely before disappearing into it to leave sparks lingering across the surface. Aeon stood ready, cane in hand like a sword, as he stares down the descending sphere. Upon touching the ground, pulses of energy can be seen illuminating the inside. He sees him, a silhouette is in there with the electricity flowing through his body similar to that of a heartbeat.

The sphere shrinks, slowly but surely, into the silhouette until fading away to leave behind the transformed Levin crouched down before standing to his full height.

His appearance now can be best described as some sort of wingless humanoid griffon, only the head was left to look like himself despite the changes. His skin was much darker to a midnight blue color with his shoulders down being covered in an ethereal coat of sharp black feathers. The parts that weren't covered in them were his arms down and his legs down, changed to a more demonic version of his appendages complete with claws for fingers, talons for toes and deep golden scales.

His hair was wild as it stood up and seemed to have grown a bit in length, the golden streaks letting out an equally golden pulse that his nerves were letting through his entire body. The pulse goes through once more as he opens his eyes, revealing them to be nothing like his sapphire pair. The scleras were pure black as the pupils were glowing yellow slits of a demon.

The group were in shock and awe at what has become of him, more so the former since this is a completely different transformation that the girls were expecting. Away from them and standing in the middle of the two sides, Aeon held his cane tightly before speaking.

"Levin?" He calls out, at least something to get some sort of response out of him.

He does, in an unexpected way.

The electricity courses through his nerves, converging into one point as he seems to brace himself for something. Aeon was quick to react, holding up his cane in defense as a powerful burst was unleashed, shattering all the windows and walls of the school in the process as the group defended themselves from the wind that came from it. A bright light was shining from this for a moment before fading, revealing what had transpired.

Wings, fully unfurled to show the full length being a full clawed hand longer than the arms, appearing to be made from some sort of spectral-like energy as lightning dances along the 'feathers' it had. Though, the most defining aspect was the claws that were in place of the alula part, becoming more apparent as the wings furl to a close behind him, placing themselves upon his shoulders between the ethereal 'feathers' that stuck out.

"Are you done?" Aeon simply responds with, slowly placing his cane downwards in case of anymore sudden moves.

A long and deep breath was his response, Levin opening his mouth to let out a deep growl.

"OK..." Aeon then slowly starts to step closer, "Speak. Are you, or are you not Levin?"

Levin stood there, staring at Aeon in silence for what seemed to be an eternity. The latter tries again, repeating the same question.

"Are you... or are you not... Levin?"

The beast looks down at the ground, opening his mouth to show his fangs as he utters one thing.

_"I..."_

The voice sounded so... distorted, like there was two voices speaking with a dark echo behind it.

Aeon stood there, waiting to see if Levin was actually in control.

_"I..."_

_WHOOSH!_

The wind broke, catching the man off guard as he felt his cane get grabbed, almost pushing up against him as Levin was suddenly within arms' length. The yellow slit pupils look right at his eyes before Levin spoke:

_"Am not."_

_WHOOSH!_

Aeon was straight up thrown right into the entrance of the school, slamming through the walls to leave a gaping hole in the place of impact. This left everyone else... frozen, to say the least.

"Wha- What just-" Visor was trying to speak through the silence that was suffocating them, "What IS that thing?"

He did not want to believe that his friend became this... beast, despite the proof standing right in front of him- wait.

Horror befell them as the demon was now only a few feet away from them, catching Shade and Visor in his winged claws to lift them off their feet.

"Whoa, he is fast!" Pinkie has a good point there.

No answer came as they watch 'Levin' hold his friends in his wings, staring the others down like a fierce hunter.

"Levin." Pri-Twi tries her hand at speaking to him in a soft tone, "There's no need to do that with your wings, they're your friends. Please, put them down."

The beast didn't move, yet the wings start to move downwards before throwing them away. The two landed in the snow as Levin simply stood there.

"She's right." Sunset steps in this time to speak, "I know what it's like to be overwhelmed by magic. It transforms you into something you don't want to be."

The others were surprised that he was listening, or seems to be, as he was just staring at them with his wings slowly furling back behind his back...

_ZOOM!_

Until unfurling again to curl around his body as he turns, blocking an oncoming attack with his wing as Aeon tried a sneak attack against him. Pushing his enemy back, Levin then reels his arm back to charge electricity into his claw before unleashing a devastating blast.

_BOOM!_

The attack collides with the wall of the school, obliterating what was in the blast radius with a thick cloud of smoke to cover it. The wind kicks up again with the girls holding their ground to prevent getting swept off their feet, opening their eyes to see Aeon's cane land in front of them before its wielder appearing soon after.

"That was close." He was quick enough to throw the cane in the air and teleport right before getting hit.

He was quick to deduce that right now, with his energy on low due to no recent recharge, he can't effectively fight Levin head on or even with his bag of tricks without damaging his opponent. However, if he's right about the girls' magic, then maybe-

He quickly goes to them while holding his cane out towards them, "My cane is a conduit for magical energy. If you put your hands on it, your magic should transfer into it."

"Are you sure that'll work!?" Rarity was doubtful of this, but Aeon wasn't having it. "It better, cause this is the only way to save him!"

Upon saying that, Sunset was the first one to place her hand on it followed by Pri-Twi, which everyone else does so as well.

Unbeknownst to them, the Dazzlings and Sci-Twi arrive to see the damaged landscape and school, looking with such disbelief as to what caused it.

"What happened here?" Sonata questions out loud.

"There they are." Adagio points to a familiar group ahead of them at the edge of the courtyard, "Come on."

Before they went any further, a bright light shined from the group before quickly fading down. Turns out, Aeon was among them as his cane was glowing white with magical energy.

"Much better. Get going." He simply says to them as he turns around to face something further up ahead, but not before seeing them and saying something else. "You got some explaining to do."

That understandably confuses them as he runs off, one of them even decides to look behind herself to see what he meant. Strangely for Sci-Twi, the girl that was looking at them was... herself?

"Oh!" The doppelganger lets a surprised gasp out of her mouth, alerting the others in the process.

"Twilight!" Visor was running past them with Shade in tow, the Rainbooms quickly following behind them to reach Sci-Twi's group.

"Guys! What's going on!?" Sci-Twi seriously needed some answers right now, which was being gladly given to her.

"Magic, Storm, Levin, Beast!" Visor was freaking out as he spoke, pausing between each word he said.

Shade took over from here and spoke at a normal rate, "We found a portal with magic, dark stuff came out and got Levin, transforming him into some sort of-"

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Consecutive clashes were heard as the snow behind them was exploding at each impact, ending at one near the edge of the courtyard before Aeon was sent flying towards him. He quickly recovers to get some footing before leaping back skywards to avoid another attack from Levin, himself flying over the group as they see the beast sliding from his own impact that broke the ground beneath before stopping.

The Dazzlings and Sci-Twi saw him, their friend Levin, looking almost nothing like who he was before.

"No...no..." Sonata was the only one to mutter words as the other two were just staring in shock.

Sci-Twi was genuinely overwhelmed with everything coming at her at once. Her look-a-like, magic actually being real, dark magic, Aeon, and now this 'Dark Levin' that was staring straight at her. All of it... made her faint.

"Twilight!" Her name was the last thing she heard before blacking out.

Levin suddenly leaps out towards the group, Shade looking back to see him reaching out with his claw before being stopped by Aeon once again.

"Back off!" He shouts at the beast before firing a burst of energy to push his opponent away.

Levin kept his talons firmly on the ground as he tried to regain his balance, only for a blast of energy to hit him straight on. Hitting the ground a few times in a rolling motion, he stabs his claw into the ground to stop himself and get his bearings. Though, Aeon wasn't gonna give him that as he kept up his assault. Swinging his cane like a sword, Levin guarded against a good majority of them with his wings and even his own arms before counterattacking with a blast of his own.

Though, he realizes the blast only hit air before feeling a stinging pain across his back, Aeon managing to land a solid blow against him, which makes him immediately retaliate with a powerful backhand swing. Though his arm didn't hit, the wing copying his move did as Aeon was sent flying into an empty window with him pursuing him soon after.

_BOOM! SLAM! CRASH!_

Walls being destroyed and hallways in ruins as the two fought intensely against one another, Levin eventually getting the upper hand as he grabs Aeon and throws him into another hallway, the man going right through the lockers and across the wall itself before landing in the foyer. He quickly rolls out of the way as Levin darts right at where he previously was, creating a small fissure in the floor with his wing in the process before firing a lightning bolt right at his enemy.

Aeon was quite agile as he performs acrobatic flips and rolls, narrowing dodging the bolts before leaping off the wall to go up high to reach the second floor and lands on top of the balcony railing. Levin halts his barrage of bolts to then unfurl his wings completely, lifting off to fly right at his enemy to perform a point-blank blast. However, Aeon proved to be quicker on the draw as he fires an energy blast directly at Levin, sending him flying across into the railing and even through the floor before he pops up onto the second floor proper.

_"AAAAHHHH!"_

A distorted roar echoes in the air as Levin launches off the wall right at Aeon like a bullet, making him quickly sidestep and take the shot at slashing the beast across the torso as he passes him and crashes into another wall. Aeon quickly stood up and readied himself for any projectiles or head-on attacks, only to be met with silence. Eerie silence was all he heard as he watches the smoke start to clear, revealing the hole in the wall... and the floor.

Realizing what was actually happening, it came a moment too late as he felt his leg get grabbed after hearing the sound of the floor breaking beneath him. An spectral claw was the culprit as the floor gave way, him going down much faster than it and slamming into the floor below.

_SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!_

Levin was relentless with his grapple on Aeon, slamming his enemy into the surroundings like a ragdoll on the floor and through the walls before finally throwing him through the school itself.

The beast was actually get annoyed at this persistent warrior, but now he is down for the count. Looking behind himself to see if the others were still there, he prepares to take flight to find them before sensing a familiar aura again... the warrior was still alive.

"You forced my hand."

All Levin saw was Aeon standing only a few feet away from him, his bandaged hand now no longer wrapped to reveal a corrupted claw of his own. It was an eerie gold glow that looks to be made from sand with a black aura surrounding it, a sharp chain-like tattoo wrapping upwards on his arm like a snake. With it, he held it up to his chest and appears to be holding something in it. However, he just stood there with a menacing gaze... in his eyes.

In Aeon's eyes, time... has stopped.

Only he was in motion, rushing in to unleash a flurry of impossibly fast slashes upon the beast. It was brief, but enough to do effective damage as he lands one powerful downwards slash at the end.

The void ceases to be, making time flow normally once again as Levin was sent flying from the combined impact of the barrage. However, Aeon was not done as he outstretches his cursed hand, ethereal chains shooting out before binding around Levin. Twisting his hand to grip the chains, Aeon spins them above his head with great force before pulling straight down hard.

_BOOM!_

Levin was slammed into the ground with incredible momentum, even stunning him on impact as Aeon turns his body around, slinging his chains over himself like a catapult to send Levin sky high. The chains broke as the sheer amount of force was enough to send him over the courtyard and into the streets beyond, crashing and sliding across the pavement as he tries to stop himself with any sort of grip he can get. In the end, he eventually stopped and could simply lay on his back to recover from the damage inflicted on him.

He stares at the sky, clouds slowly moving as the snow was starting to fall. The electricity pulsing through his body was starting to slow down, indicating his stamina was now low before hearing a familiar sound followed by a voice.

"Are you finally done?"

Lifting his head up a bit, Levin sees Aeon standing with his cane pointed straight at him. Seeing his enemy on the verge of winning the battle, his pulse quickens with rage as he pushes himself off the ground with his wings. Aeon braces himself as Levin came at him with all his remaining strength, firing punch after punch with his winged claws copying each one to double the assault.

Despite his best efforts, Aeon was able to block and deflect each one of them before pushing him back with an energy pulse. Levin mustered up what he had left in one more attack and ricochets himself right back, making a thunderous boom in the process as lightning dances along his entire arm. It was instantaneous as he fires a pure bolt of lightning:

Right into the sky.

In that moment, Aeon was able to dodge and counter with his own attack, stabbing the ethereal 'blade' of the cane into Levin's chest. A rainbow-colored pulse went into the beast like the electric pulses he has before it was pulled out, the former was crouched down with his face turned away as the rainbow bursts outwards from the corrupted demon, forcing the dark energy out of his body in the process.

What was left in place of the demon was Levin, purified back to normal as he was nearing unconsciousness from the fight.

"Sha... Vi... Twi..." He mutters under his breath before passing out.

Aeon catches the boy in his free arm, holding him over his shoulders as he lets out a heavy sigh.

"You've fought well, kid." The man admits as he stood up, walking off to find the others.

**And done! Whoo, that was fun!**

**The first two scenes are to establish what the boys were doing before the race to the portal, which then leads to the two sides coming together.**

**The first part is having the boys caught up to speed about the truths behind the magic events before Levin gets caught by the dark energy.**

**The small scene after that is to bring the Dazzlings and Sci-Twi into the equation. Perhaps not in a battle sense, just more of a narrative idea that'll come into play later.**

**The second part was mainly to show off the corrupted form and what it's capable of, setting the atmosphere of the dangerous power it had.**

**The third and final part was the fight itself, intense and destructive to describe how the two fighters fought in their current states. Like I said, this had many different ways to be written, most making Levin be much more violent with his powers, but made the fight more one-sided than I wanted it to be.**

**Speaking of 'Lethal Levin', the name of the form I gave him, I wanted to make it very different from the other transformations that are mainly based on ponies or just corrupted versions of the villains. Griffons were one of the first choices I thought of and went with it, having different aesthetics from the first drafts I imagined before reaching the final one used here.**

**When I thought of doing the dark form concept, I immediately went with it being a version of the 'Devil Trigger' forms from the Devil May Cry series. For those who played DMC5, the wings should be an obvious reference to a certain Devil Trigger form, which is honestly my favorite form of the series!**

**On the other hand, I had various ideas on how Aeon would fight before rediscovering the Prince of Persia series, remembering how flexible and skilled the Prince was in his fighting style. Though, I kept a few from previous drafts such as the teleport skill and combined them into what you see in the battle.**

**With all that said, we have reached the end as the next chapter is the epilogue (and the Christmas Special I promised after that). I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next time!**


	22. E: The Shadows within the Rainbow

**Hello, fellow readers! And welcome... to the end! Well, of this story as there is more to come, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Anyways, I'm personally proud about last chapter as it felt good to write a good old action scene. So with that past us, what awaits at the finish line?**

**Well first, the usual list:**

**johannvanguard: Not gonna lie, I had a big smile on my face when I read your comment on Levin's dark form, as I was a bit worried about it would be received. Still, I appreciate your positive feedback as always. Well, here you go.**

**We've came far since our slow beginning, now let's stick the landing.**

**Epilogue: The Shadows within the ****Rainbow**

The group were currently staying at Pinkie's house, since it was the closest place from the school to make sure Sci-Twi and Levin were kept warm from freezing in their sleep. It was silent for the longest time as everyone was still processing the events that had transpired, only to be broken by Pri-Twi's question.

"So, what is the origin of that dark energy?"

Aeon casually looks at her in response before speaking, "Very well. Much like there is the positive magic that you are familiar with, there is the negative side. That particular power is from the bloodline that is associated with the Prince of Shadows, of which my own bloodline was the counterbalance to him."

"So, how old are you exactly?" Rainbow questions out loud, making him look right at her.

"Old enough." He immediately retorts with before smirking, "But, let's just say I look good for my age."

"OK. Ah can understand the light and dark stuff, maybe even the whole bloodline part. But, what does this have to do with what happened to Levin?" Applejack makes a good point.

"Quite right. That transformation was a lot different than what I thought it would be." Rarity agrees with her friend.

Sunset was recalling back to her own transformation to try and make similarities between them, mainly when it comes to circumstances. However, there wasn't much of, if any that could imply such a form. Her thoughts was then interrupted as Aeon answers the question.

"The dark energy transforms people into various monsters that has been in service of the Dark Prince, of which the griffon was one of the strongest. Thankfully, due to the weakened state of such energy, it wasn't as destructive as I was expecting."

Visor processed that entire statement before speaking, "You're telling me... Levin could have been more powerful than what we saw?"

"I argue that even the girls would struggle against it." Aeon states at a drop of his hat, which he manages to find after the battle and has it placed on his lap.

Everyone was quiet from that claim, except for Fluttershy who shivers at the thought of that possibility.

The Dazzlings on the other hand were simply sitting in silence, listening to all this new information that this parallel world has as Visor and Shade stood nearby.

The former lets out a heavy sigh as he places his head in his hand, "Wow... you catching all this, Shade?"

His friend was standing against the wall behind him as he answers, "Yeah, just keeping my cool better than you."

"Like this is normal for you to hear!" Visor looks right at him as he calls him out on that.

"This ain't, I'm just saying." Shade clarifies in his own defense.

"I think the better question is..." Adagio speaks up with a question of her own, "Why is the darkness coming out of the portal now?"

The others understood what she means, which Aeon simply answers in kind. "Limbo is simply another realm that bridges itself in between worlds. Despite the seal placed upon him, it was only a matter of time with the portals opening here and there until it broke free."

Sunset caught his choice of words and immediately points it out, "Him?"

"I heard that too." Aria backs up her point, "Are you saying that this dark whatever is actually a person?"

Everyone sent their eyes on Aeon, who was now strangely hesitant on answering her question. He averts his eyes towards the fireplace upon realizing his little slip up, which he was able to divert their attention to something else:

Sci-Twi waking up.

"Ohh... what happened?" She mutters to herself as she slowly sat up.

"A lot. Which one do you want to hear?" Visor simply said in response.

She opens her eyes and finds her vision being a bit blurry, mainly since her glasses weren't on her face at the moment.

"Here." Pri-Twi took them to see how they worked, gladly returning them to their owner.

Sci-Twi takes them and puts them on, returning her vision to normal to see the others sitting in front of her. Though, this only serves to confuse her with an expression on her face to match it.

"You, or me? Who are you exactly?" Might as well start with the most obvious question.

"I'm you from another world. Specifically, I'm a magical talking unicorn, or rather an alicorn princess now, from a world filled with other magical creatures." Pri-Twi kept it as basic as possible for her counterpart to process.

"...Uh-huh." That was all that Sci-Twi said in response, "I-is there proof of such a world existing?"

The Dazzlings and Sunset raises their hands while speaking in unison, "There is."

That came as a surprise to Visor and Shade, the former of which is trying to keep a straight face while holding in his laughter.

"What's funny?" Pri-Twi understandably questions this reaction.

"N-Nothing, just thought of a joke I heard before popped in my head." Visor simply shrugs them off, thankfully taking the attention away from Shade who was blushing a bit in embarrassment.

"OK then." Sci-Twi looks around before setting her eyes on Levin, who was still asleep.

She suddenly gets up to her feet in a small panic, remembering the dark form she saw before being stopped in her tracks.

"Don't worry, he's back to normal now." Aeon reassures her in an attempt to calm her down.

It was working as she recognizes him from the museum, "You again. Wait, did you-?"

"Yes, with this and their magic." He holds up his cane for emphasis briefly before gesturing with it towards the girls, putting it back on his lap afterwards.

She then looks at the cane, immediately recognizing the artifact as the Enlightened Eagle that she and Levin were currently working on a project for. Now, things were starting to click into place as another question pops into her mind.

"Then it's true. Magic really does exist?" She asks the man, who simply nods in response.

"Correct. I know it'll take time, but the sooner you accept it, the easier it'll be on your sanity." He was rather blunt with his little advice tip, but it's helpful at the very least.

Sci-Twi is familiar with the concept of magic, mainly described as a strange force that can do the impossible. The idea of it really existing can literally change everything. Though, she doubts such a force can be used like electricity and wind.

Putting her skepticism aside for now, she asks another important question that was geared towards Levin this time.

"What happened to him?"

"Dark magic." Aeon kept it short and sweet, "Corrupts anyone that comes into contact with it."

"Oh... I see." A hint of worry enters her mind, doubting if what he did to Levin actually worked.

Thankfully, that thought faded away as Levin began to stir a bit.

"Gosh dang it, Visor. There's no need to freak out over a controller." They didn't expect him to actually talk in his sleep as he turns to his side.

"You made me drop it, first of all-" Visor retorts as he recalls that moment, but digresses with a roll of his eyes.

"Shade, why are you reading romance novels again?" Levin continues on with his little rambles, unknowingly revealing something about his friend.

The girls, except Sci-Twi, look at the boy who looks away from their gaze and nervously scratches his head through his hair, which is now exposed from losing his beanie earlier. Wanting to avoid anymore stupid stuff being said, he quickly walks over to his sleeping friend and pokes him in the back with his foot.

"Wake up, you'll be late for school." He jokingly said in an attempt to get him up faster.

"I don't wanna... five more minutes..." Levin yawns in the middle of his sentence, most likely due to exhaustion from the ordeal.

"All right then, it's not like Twilight is waiting outside or anything." Shade openly teases him, mainly as a little payback for the novel line.

Levin jolts right up soon after, "She's here!?"

"Yup. As is everyone else." Shade gestures to the others as he said this.

Levin looks around in response, quickly realizing the implications of this before looking away. "Wait, all of that wasn't-"

He cuts himself off as he felt a stinging pain in his head, placing his hand on it to try and ease it a bit as he spoke under his breath. "Should have sat up slower..."

"To answer your question, it was not a dream." Aeon clarifies for him, "Though, it sounds like you remember it well."

Levin slowly got up to his feet as he admits, "Sadly, I do. It was like a... lucid nightmare."

For the next few minutes, they fill him in on what happened during his corrupted transformation. He stayed silent through the whole thing, processing it all as Sunset ends the recap with a question of her own.

"What did it feel like?"

Levin took a few seconds to think about it before looking at her with a saddened expression, "All of my pain was pushed out to the surface, and the only way I could express it is lashing out... I don't want to experience that ever again."

Near the end, his voice quivered for a moment as he sits in an empty chair nearby. The usual smile he had before was nowhere to be seen on his face, making him almost unrecognizable to the others. Sonata was pretty much quiet throughout this whole conversation and now decides to speak up as she gets up on her feet.

"Come on, Levin. Why the sad face?" It was a rhetorical question, but she was going somewhere with this.

The others were curious as to what she was planning and let her continue, "Is it because your hair isn't spiky right now?"

Levin didn't even realize that his hair was back down as she walks over to him, "Here, let me put it back up."

In a rather comedic fashion, she tries ruffling his hair and pulling it up a little to make it stand like the usual spikes. Needless to say, it only left it in a messy style as he didn't even flinch at her touch. Not ready to give up so soon, she crouches down next to him to talk some more.

"Not even a crack?" She asks him, waiting for any response as he stares at the ground.

Silence fell upon the room except for the crackling of the fire in the fireplace, most likely due to her trying to think of something to cheer him up. After a bit of time, she recalls a certain memory.

"Do you remember that night, when you woke me up from a nightmare?"

He remained quiet, but his eyes were now focused on hers as she continues on. "You took the time to talk with me, having a nice little trip down our own memory lanes. You with your sticky pillow head and me with Adagio's nose pimple."

"Wow, that takes me back." Shade comments with Visor snickering at the image of the uneven hair his friend had that day.

"Unfortunately, I remember that vividly." Adagio mutters out loud.

Sonata didn't really focus on them as she was squarely on Levin, "You also told me a bit about the family you have. Your dad, your mom, even your cousins Stylite and Pixel. I bet you had your smile on your face when you were around them too."

"But a smile starts to hurt after a while, so you stop doing it when no one is around... but the pain stays, doesn't it? You didn't want to have others see what you're feeling, which is why you wanted to keep them smiling... I understand that. I always smile whenever Adagio or Aria felt down cause I don't like seeing them that way."

She pauses for a moment to catch her breath, which Levin averts his eyes and finally spoke with a shaken voice. "Do you know why... I didn't say anything about my mom that night?"

Sonata stayed quiet and listened intently on what he had to say, "It's because I find it... hard to go back to those memories. Most of them are just so happy, and yet... empty at the same time. And ever since her... her... that day, I lost something very important. There would be a glimpse every now and again, but I knew I could never keep it."

He then looks at her in the eyes while tears were forming, "You are right... I force myself to hide the pain... and the photo on our tree was the last day... I truly smiled."

The tears then fell down his cheeks, averting his gaze once again as if it would help make it easier before burying his face in his hands. The others just stayed silent as they were not really sure on what to even do. Sonata was understandably saddened by that, but wasn't ready to give up on him yet. An idea then came to her as she reaches into her pockets and pulls out a drawing, unfolding it as she spoke.

"Look at this." She says to get his attention, which somewhat works as he slightly moves his head to show his eye.

Holding it up to reveal what it was, he sees the drawing she showed them a couple of days ago at the park. It was her giving him a surprise hug from behind with him smiling at the attempt.

"I don't think I mentioned when I drew this." She continues on as she squeezes in next to him, "It was the morning following that night, right after I woke up. I quickly went to get some pencils, crayons and paper to make sure I got it just right before losing it. Since then, I made sure I drew any new ones from the dreams I had."

She smiles gently as she looks at him, "But, I wouldn't have this... if you didn't give me the inspiration. And you know what I call this one?"

His hands moved away entirely at this point, curiosity appearing in his teary eyes before being surprised by a warm hug and even warmer words:

"A new dream."

He broke down soon after those words fell upon his ears, new tears falling down harder than before as he returns the hug in kind. The sight also made some of the others teary-eyed as well, but all of them smiled at the tender moment between the two.

**And done! We did it, people!**

**I decided to keep it short as there is still one more chapter after this. However, I wanted to make this come full circle with Levin and Sonata.**

**Thinking back to one of the earlier chapters, I find myself seeing this as a nice little role reversal for them. He gives her comfort when she needed it most, and now she returns the ****favor in kind.**

**Other than that, we have a bit more history with Aeon and the dark force he is familiar with. Sci-Twi gets introduced to the group at long last, with a couple of curveballs thrown into the mix before getting to the sweet moment to end the chapter on.**

**And with all of that done, thank you all for reading this story! Please tell me, what are your thoughts on it? Anything you liked, disliked or neutral about? Anything to improve upon what I can do in the future is appreciated.**

**And now, I will see you all in the very late Christmas Special I promised! Until then, I'll see ya later!**


	23. CS: New Arrivals and New Horizons

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome to the Christmas Special! Not gonna hold you up here any longer, so let's just hop right in!**

**But first, a word from our reviewers:**

**johannvanguard: Pleased to hear that as always, my friend. Here are your answers.**

**Nightwolf2000: Thanks for the kind words, I'll be sure not to disappoint.**

**Thanks for the feedback, people! Now, let's get the party underway!**

**CS: New Arrivals and New Horizons**

Time has passed since the incident at CHS, which has its own little story for the aftermath. The weekend after the snow days were over, the teachers and students arrive to find their school in shambles. The Rainbooms show up soon after with the Detective Trio in tow, explaining what was the cause of the destruction. Things got a bit heated as a certain student recognizes them and point out that they go to Crystal Prep, the rival school they face in the Friendship Games.

After some time, they managed to reassure them that this was not any sort of prank, or crime, made to sabotage them. The boys took full blame for their actions, which the punishment was to help repair the damages. The girls were on board to help out, at least to speed things up since the holidays were around the corner, and managed to fix the school back in working order a couple of days before Christmas Eve rolled around.

Ataraxy and Candid caught wind of what had happened, but they did eventually let them off with a warning due to them already paying for their mistakes. Sci-Twi and the Dazzlings did offer to help them, but were declined since they weren't involved in the slightest. Pri-Twi eventually had to return to her world, promising to write every now and then to check in on them.

Once all that was in the past, they had a new challenge up ahead in the form of Christmas shopping. However, due to the short time frame and the nature of holiday shopping, they could only get so much. Of course, Levin had a plan to make up for it:

A Christmas party at his house.

Everyone was invited, including Aeon who was surprised at such a gesture, and Levin couldn't be more excited as he had just finished putting up the lights on the second floor balcony railing.

"How's it looking, Sonata?" He asks her as she stood down below.

"Perfect!" She responds with a smile, loving the while lights they decided to use.

He eagerly comes back downstairs to see what she means, "Certainly is."

"Oh wow, you actually made it work." Adagio comes in the living room from the kitchen, eating one of the many cookies Levin had made as she looks at the lights they have hanged on the walls and such.

"And how many does that make?" He points at the half-eaten cookie she held in her hand as he asks this question.

"Enough, thank you very much." Adagio takes another bite of it soon after with an admittedly cute little pout on her face.

"OK then. Honestly, I should be more flattered you three like them. I don't bake that often." He admits as he walks past her.

"You should bake more!" Sonata encourages him on doing so, which he smiles back in return before turning the corner.

Once he does, he is now in the dining room to see Aria wiping down the table good.

"And there we go." She said to herself, finishing up the little chore as she looks at him. "Any reason why you wanted this? It's just gonna get messy again."

"Remember, this room doesn't get used often. That table collects dust and the last thing I want is a dusty party." He explains to her with his answer.

"I would hate dust on my food." She comments, agreeing on what he's getting at.

"Exactly, speaking of which-" He pulls out his phone to check the time, "It's almost six. They're gonna be here any minute."

Levin heads on out of the dining room with Aria following behind, her joining up with her sisters as he was strolling towards the front hall.

"OK, OK. Hair spiked up, casual winter clothes on, no magical powers and a drive to party." He goes down a mental list in his head, "All set, let's do this!"

_Ding Dong!_

"...Huh, didn't think that would worked." He was genuinely surprised at the timing of that before realizing what that meant.

Unlocking and opening the door, he sees his first group of guests as they cheerfully greet him on sight. The Rainbooms wore new attire for the cold snow of winter, thanks to Rarity, as they enter with food prepared for the dinner.

"Merry Christmas!" Sunset said, followed by the others who does the same as they enter the house.

"Merry Christmas!" Levin says right back before closing the door behind them, the group putting their food in the dining room as they greet the Dazzlings too.

"This is gonna be so exciting!" Pinkie expresses her joy, who is the most obvious of the group to be.

"I really like the lights. They certainly make the walls pop." Rarity complements the decorations they have done, which made Sonata gleefully smile in turn.

"Thank you! Although, they were a bit annoying to put up." She admits, but it was only a minor complaint.

"At least you didn't have to do the dusting." Aria casually points out.

"I hope it's been all right since the you-know-what happened." Sunset quietly said to Adagio.

"Oh no, he's doing much better now. He tends to cook a bit more lately, for one thing." The latter reassures her, "Particularly, baking."

Pinkie then pops up between the two, "I heard baking, who's baking!?"

"If they didn't eat them all, there should be cookies in the kitchen." Levin mentions, of which the pink party girl zooms off to the baked goods before he even blinks.

"I'll go make sure she doesn't eat them all too." Rainbow goes off to the kitchen as she said this, entering it soon after saying it.

Levin was enjoying the lively interactions that the girls were having, bringing a nice smile to his face:

_Ding Dong!_

Before the doorbell went off again. Knowing full well who it might be, he dashes right to the door and opens it to reveal his friends with their respective parents.

"Merry Christmas!" The four warmly greets him, which he kindly returns back. "Merry Christmas!"

"Only a second behind the girls this time!" Visor jokingly said before speaking more positively, "Got ya food and a little something for the carols."

Levin then notices the case that most likely contained his piano in his right hand as he walks past him. Shade comes in soon after with Ataraxy and Candid close behind, Levin closing the door behind them as they enter the living room. Once they place the food in the dining room, they join in on the conversation with others.

"You play the piano?" Fluttershy asks Visor, who places his case on the couch.

"Yup, I decided to get an instrument to test my new musical hobby and went with a classic choice." He explains to her, "That and I like taping my fingers for rhythmic beats."

"That's nice. I play the tambourine in our band, it's simple and fun to play." She replies with before having an idea pop into her head, "Actually, do you three have a band?"

Visor took a moment to think about it, "Us three, huh?"

"You boys in a band? That would be awesome!" His mom overheard this part and chimes in with her opinion on the matter, "Of course there's all the other band stuff, but you have been telling me about the little tunes you hum sometimes."

"M-Mom!" Visor apparently didn't want that to be mentioned, his cheeks a bit red of embarrassment as a result.

_Ding Dong!_

The doorbell rang the third time, making Levin move to answer the door. Upon opening it, he sees Sci-Twi has arrived with guests of her own along with some food too.

The first guest is a male that looks around the age of a college student. He has cerulean eyes, light gray skin, and sapphire blue hair with light and dark blue streaks. He wore a black turtleneck sweater with a blue scarf wrapped around his neck under a white coat, equally blue gloves, gray pants and dark blue boots.

The second guest is also a male, older than the previous one that is likely the father. He has grayish azure skin, moderate amber eyes, and dark blue hair. He wore a deep blue coat over a gray sweater, blue gloves, blue pants and black boots.

The third and final guest is a female, seems to be a bit younger than the father that is most likely the mother. She has pale gray skin, light blue eyes, and purple hair with white stripes. She wore a light purple coat over a white turtleneck sweater, a pair of purple earmuffs, purple gloves, white pants, and purple boots.

"Hi, Levin. Are we on time?" Sci-Twi greets him, which he gladly responds with an excited tone. "On the dot! Though, I didn't expect this. I'm guessing they are... family?"

"That's a pretty good guess. I'm her brother, Shining Armor." He casually introduces himself, holding his hand out for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you." Levin simply said back as he returns the handshake.

"I'm her father, Night Light. And I appreciate the invitation." Her father does the same, which Levin repeats the motion as well. "I'm glad you do, Mr. Light."

"And I'm her mother, Twilight Velvet. I'm so glad that Twilight has made some friends since her time at Crystal Prep." Her mother chimes in while eagerly shaking the boy's hand, who was a bit caught off guard by it before recovering.

"I-I'm glad to help with that, Mrs. Velvet." Levin shakes off the small dizziness he still felt as he said that.

"Already meeting the girl's parents, son?"

A new voice was familiar to Levin as the group look to where it came from, seeing another man casually walking towards them with a smile on his face.

He has neat black hair that reaches past his ears in length and even goes around his ruby red eyes, matching with his five-o-clock shadow of a beard and light tangelo skin. He wore a black zipped-up bomber jacket over a gray turtleneck sweater, black gloves, blue cargo pants, and black boots.

"D-Dad!?" Levin was legit surprised at his father's arrival, who simply smirks in response.

"Keep your cool, kid. We're in front of company." He advises, "Mind allowing them inside from the cold?"

"Right!" Levin then enters back inside and has the door open for them to enter, the man following behind.

Once they were in and Levin closes the door, a nice hug was in order as he does just that.

"Hey! How ya doin, kiddo?" His father gladly returns the gesture.

"I've been doing good. A lot has happened, but I think it's best to wait till afterwards to tell you." Levin briefly explains.

"I hope so. Last thing I want is you being bored from the same old same old." His dad gets what he meant.

After they ended the hug, the two enter the living room where the man was understandably surprised at the amount of people that were currently there.

"Oh wow, you weren't kidding." He looks upon the group before turning to Levin, "I'll wait until they all get acquainted, I gotta rest my feet from walking all day."

His son simply nods at that, "Sure thing."

"Which college to ya go to, exactly?" Applejack asks Shining out of curiosity.

"I'm currently going to Everton right now. It has high standards, but it's manageable." He answers before realizing something, "Which reminds me..."

He then turns to Sci-Twi, "Weren't you thinking of going there too?"

"I-I haven't decided on that yet, honestly." She hesitantly responds with her answer.

"You must be Levin's friends, correct?" Mrs. Velvet greets Shade and Visor with a cheerful smile, which the two couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm honestly a bit surprised that she mentioned us." The former admits, thinking that she would mainly talk about Levin.

"She told us about everyone. You, Visor, Levin, Sonata, and the others. Though, she mentioned meeting herself?" Mrs. Velvet was a bit confused at that last part.

"Maybe she meant it like finding herself. Kinda a soul searching moment, I guess?" Visor clarifies for her with a small lie, which she believed.

"Oh! That makes sense, I guess." Mrs. Velvet chuckles a bit soon after, "Twilight can come up with the strangest stuff sometimes."

During this, Mr. Light was currently speaking with Sunset and Rainbow. "I've heard about your band from one of my colleagues, he told me his daughter really enjoys your music."

"That's great to hear. Guess Pinkie was right about us sharing our music." The former mentions, which Rainbow agrees with. "Totally."

"Told you!" Pinkie calls out their doubts about her idea.

"No wonder you all looked familiar!" A male voice calls out over the group, getting their attention.

A man was currently sitting in one of the chairs as he continues, "You're the Rainbooms, right!?"

"Yes sir, the one and only! Who's asking?" Rainbow answers.

"Just a fan of your music. It's really good." He humbly responds back with.

"Wait, how do you know them?" Levin was rather curious about this.

"I follow their social media." His dad casually said in response, "Any new songs and I'm listening first thing. Heck, it's better than most music on the radio."

"Thank you very much." Fluttershy was just as flattered as the others before asking an important question, "But um, who are you? If you don't mind me asking."

The man sheepishly smiles right after she said that, "Oops, right."

He got up to his feet and stretches a bit before standing up fully, "It's nice to meet all of you. I am Marvel Rumble, and I welcome you in my home as much as my son has."

"Whoa, you're Levin's dad!" Sonata points out the obvious with that, which her sisters simply roll their eyes at.

Mr. Rumble simply chuckles at that remark, "Indeed I am. Now, I recall almost every face here except Twilight and her family who I've just met..."

He casually walks up to the Dazzlings as he continues, "And you three ladies. May I ask your names?"

"Sonata Dusk!" Sonata happily introduces herself before gesturing to who's who, "And these are my sisters, Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze!"

"Hey." The former simply said.

"Sup." The latter casually nods her head upwards while saying that.

"A pleasure to meet you." Mr. Rumble smiles at them before turning to Levin, "Now, is that everyone you invited?"

"Well there is one more, but he was rather vague with whether or not he was gonna-"

_Ding Dong!_

"...Show up." Levin finishes his sentence soon after the bell faded, going right over to the door to see who it was. However, he was not prepared for what was on the other side after he opened it:

"Yo, Levin! Long time no see!"

A sudden hug caught Levin a bit off guard as he processes who it was, which he recognizes two familiar faces.

"Stylite!? Pixel!?"

Indeed it was his cousins, the former currently hugging him before letting go while the latter was entering into the hall with another guest in tow.

"I figured they might be people you knew." It was indeed Aeon, who only had minor changes in his appearance as he closes the door behind himself.

While he still wore his hat and coat, he now has a black long-sleeved sweater in place of his shirt and wore another black glove on his left hand, or rather claw for obvious reasons.

"I-I'm surprised you two actually came. I thought you would be-" Levin was interrupted by his cousin as he answers, "Well, we were in the neighborhood and wanted to surprise ya! So, surprise!"

Now that Levin has a good view of the two, he was taking in how different they look now than when he last saw them.

Stylite has grown to be at least a bit taller than him now, along with a new hairstyle that seems to be shoulder-length. His violet hair was tied in a ponytail with loose bangs framing his face under a black fitted cap and his light gold skin has two scars on his face, a long one going across his cheek and a small one over his right brow, while still having his royal blue eyes. He wore a black zipped-up high collar jacket over a purple long sleeved shirt, blue gloves, blue jeans, and black boots.

Pixel has grown not as much, but it was still noticeable as he now reaches Levin's chin at max height. He has wavy unkempt golden blonde hair with bangs reaching his eyebrows, pale amber skin and wore a pair of thin rectangular-framed glasses over his vermilion red eyes. He wore a brown beanie, a dark gray jacket over a brown turtleneck sweater, black knitted gloves, black pants and brown boots.

"Sty! I thought I heard ya!" Visor comes from around the corner with Shade in tow, grinning widely as he walks over to the group.

"Vis, you mad lad!" Stylite returns the greeting as the two claps hands together like they were arm wrestling before pulling each other in for a short hug.

Once they did that, Stylite greets Shade with a simple fist pump. "Good to see you too, man."

"Same." Shade then sees Pixel just chilling in the back and waves to him, "Hey."

"H-Hi." Pixel wasn't really expecting that as Aeon simply smiles at the shy boy.

"Oh right, there's a party!" Stylite kinda forgot in his excitement, "Best that we don't keep the guests waiting!"

With that, the group goes into the living room to meet up with the others, Mr. Rumble being the most taken aback at their appearances.

"Whoa! It's been quite awhile since I've seen you two." He happily greets the two boys.

"Same here, Uncle Marvel." Stylite agrees with that sentiment, "How's the acting gig?"

"Doing quite well. Recently finished up a movie, so I'm currently taking time off."

"Nice." Stylite then looks at the others who are also there, "That's quite the crowd you got here."

"Everyone, these two are my cousins, Stylite Stream and Pixel Stellar!" Levin calls out for everyone to hear, which they warmly greet the two boys in return.

"Nice to meet you all!" The former smiles at their warm welcome before noticing his brother kinda frozen next to him, "Don't mind my little bro, he's just very shy!"

A couple of them chuckle at that, with Fluttershy knowing how he feels, before Levin spoke up again:

"And this guy here is Aeon Rover!"

Aeon simply looks at him with a smirk before looking at the others, "Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

"Now that everyone is here, let's start the feast!" Levin announces out loud.

* * *

And that they did. The adults got to work setting up the table with the various foods while the teens were hanging out in the kitchen. The group was getting acquainted with his cousins as Levin was standing close to the cookies to make sure no one else eats them until further notice and started a conversation with Sci-Twi.

"I'm glad that you came, I wanted to talk with you." Levin starts their conversation with.

"Really? What about?" She was rather curious on what he means.

"...When I was transformed, Sunset told me that you saw me in that form before fainting." Levin mentions at a lower tone, "What exactly did you see?"

Sci-Twi took a moment to recall his dark form before answering, "You looked like a... a powerful wraith possessed you. Your eyes were so... empty."

Levin forms an image from what she had just described, getting a shiver down his spine in the process. "That is scary."

"T-That isn't gonna come back, right?" She was understandably afraid of it, considering what she just described it as.

"Don't worry, it was a one-time thing." Levin reassures her, "Aeon made sure of that."

The two went quiet for a second before he rubs the back of his neck, "Sorry, didn't mean to bring the mood down."

"No, you're fine. You were just curious." She simply said in response.

"Like a cat." He just blurts out as a little joke.

Thankfully it worked somewhat, making the two chuckle soon after. Once that passes, Levin changes the subject to whatever came to his head.

"Your parents and brother are pretty nice."

"They are. Though, they aren't home often. My brother goes to college and my parents have jobs that takes them out of town often." She explains to him.

"So in that case, you mainly live alone?" He summarizes what she was getting at.

"Yeah. I don't mind it that much, Spike is there to keep me company and I'm able to focus on my lab projects." She shrugs that part off as she spoke, though her tone sounds a bit more somber than before.

"You have a lab too?" The latter part has him intrigued, though he caught the shift in her voice as well.

"Yeah. The shed in my backyard helps with that." Sci-Twi answers before recalling what he just said, "Wait, do you have a lab?"

"I use the basement for mine, which is closed off to everyone else due to the dangerous equipment I use." Levin answers her question as he crosses his arms over his chest, "Sadly, I have yet to make a stable prototype of any projects."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make something that works." She assures him on that, which he gives a kind smile in return.

"Thank you. I mean, I made these cookies for the first time and they came out great." He then takes one of the cookies and holds one out to her, "Want one?"

"Now? Before dinner?" Sci-Twi had a point there, which Levin then splits the cookie in two. "We'll share one then."

She felt heat go into her checks for a moment before taking one of the halves, "Thanks."

The two then took a bite from their own halves, which she enjoys with a noticeable expression to match.

"This is really good." She agrees with his opinion on the cookies.

"I know, right?" He cheerfully said before finishing his half.

While they were conversing, the Rainbooms and Dazzlings were getting to know Stylite and Pixel better with Shade and Visor leading the conversation.

"So, what brings you back to Canterlot?" The latter asks.

"I was actually transferred from my school to Crystal Prep recently." Stylite answers, making the two rather excited.

"Wait, how did that happen?" Shade questions the weird decision, to which Stylite simply shrugs.

"Not sure. I think it was about athletic scores? Something like that. I didn't really question it since it means I get to see you guys again."

"Can't argue with that!" Visor agrees with his point there.

"Wait, is it just you that's going to Crystal Prep?" Rainbow points out.

"Sadly, yeah. My one condition was that Pixel would join me, but I was told that there was only one opening." Stylite then perks up right after as he continues, "Thankfully, there's the sister school Canterlot High that was available to take him in, so it worked out."

"Luck certainly favors y'all too, then. We also go to CHS as well." Applejack comments on the coincidence of that possibility, making Stylite happily laugh at that.

"Really? That is nuts!" He then turns to his brother who was processing that, "Not even at the new school and you got friends already!"

"...Y-Yay." Pixel nervously cheers in a low voice, though he was glad that he won't be alone there.

"What about you three? You go to CHS too?" Stylite asks that towards the Dazzlings, who were feeling a bit awkward about that.

"We used to go there..." Adagio starts with, trying to follow up with an excuse.

"Then we stopped going." Aria bluntly finishes for her.

"Ah, dropouts. Gotcha." Stylite sums it up for them, which they went along with.

"Yeah, that's it." Sonata casually agrees with before trying to sneakily get another cookie, which Levin stops her in the process.

While the teens were conversing in the kitchen, the adults were doing the same with Mr. Rumble speaking to Aeon.

"So, you are an archaeologist, correct?" He asks the man, "How did that lead to you meeting Levin?"

"Indeed, how did that happen..." Aeon rhetorically said back before answering, "I was working on a personal project of mine that he and Twilight were doing a history project on, which they passed with flying colors by the way."

"She told us about that. I was curious on why they couldn't have done it by themselves, until I found out that it was an artifact I haven't even heard about!" Mrs. Velvet mentions from what she recalls.

"It was a recent discovery, of course." Aeon adds for a bit of clarification.

Mr. Rumble was still a bit skeptical on the coincidental side of things, but didn't want to press on it since the table was now fully set up. While Ataraxy went into the kitchen to tell the others, Shining was expressing a concern he thought about to his dad.

"I still find it weird that she knows him for as long as she has." He wonders out loud, which Mr. Rumble overheard and joins in the conversation. "What do you mean?"

"He means that Twilight didn't mention Levin until after telling us about their partner project." Mr. Light clarifies for him.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure she has her reasons why." Mr. Rumble guesses, "Not everything in someone's life has to be known."

"True..." Mrs. Brace chimes in, getting their attention.

"Before you tell us-" Mr. Rumble knew her habit well, so he wants to avoid any unnecessary words. "What made you come to this conclusion?"

"My nephew has a little crush on one of the girls, but he doesn't want to talk about it." Mrs. Brace answers, "You know teens, feelings like that are natural."

"That is a fair point." Mr. Light gets where she was going with that, "With that said, it's best not to assume such things."

"Yeah, but-" Shining wasn't sure about that, only to feel his shoulder get a bit heavier from his father's hand.

"You don't think that might be your brotherly intuition kicking in?" Mr. Light points out, followed with a friendly chuckle as his son realizes that might be the case.

Their little discussion went away as the others came out of the kitchens with plates and utensils, ready to eat their delicious dishes. The dinner itself goes along quite well, lively conversations and hearty laughs to be had with family and friends alike. Though, Shining had his gaze shift towards Levin and Sci-Twi on occasion, still a bit on edge on their actual connection.

* * *

With everyone filled up and the various foods mostly eaten, they decide to go back to the living room to continue their conversations.

"Come on, you gotta know something about the new Daring Do movie! There are rumors about it all over the internet." Rainbow was currently pestering Mr. Rumble, though he wasn't really bothered by it.

"Don't listen to rumors, they tend to be exaggerated." He casually responds, which he wasn't wrong about, as he goes to sit on the couch.

"But there was a teaser." Sci-Twi chimes in, "A long while ago, at least."

"I remember that! It only showed the title though, I think it was-"

"Daring Do and the Amulet of Time."

The two girls look at Aeon, who was sitting in one of the chairs on his phone before looking at them. "I'm honestly surprised about that. The book only came out recently."

"Most likely due to how fast it got popular." Mr. Rumble points out, "Strike while the iron's hot, as the saying goes."

"Then the movie IS coming out?" Rainbow still persists on the matter.

Mr. Rumble leans back as he lets a smirk appear on his face, "...Well, I'm not fond of rumors in general. But..."

Rainbow was listening in intently with Sci-Twi doing the same, "But? But what?"

"...I may have heard about the possible release window." Mr. Rumble lets out in a lower tone, mainly to mess with them. "Something about next year, if I heard correctly?"

The two girls were rather excited about that little nugget of information, letting out suppressed fangirl squeals over that possibility as Aeon simply smirks at this. His attention was diverted as he heard a few notes from a piano, looking over to see Visor has set up his portable piano he brought earlier.

"So, who wants to sing some carols?" Visor offers out loud to get the others' attention.

"Got any in mind?" Levin leans a bit over the couch as he asks this.

"I got one." Mr. Rumble chimes in as he gets up on his feet, standing in front of the piano before speaking. "Here, play these notes."

He presses a few keys to show what he meant, Visor catching on to it rather quickly as he starts to play a familiar tone. If it wasn't obvious enough, Mr. Rumble starts the song with the first verse:

_Marvel: Oh, the weather outside is frightful_

_Candid: But the fire is so delightful_

_Ataraxy: And since we got no place to go_

_Marvel/Ataraxy/Candid: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snooow_

"Now you go!" Mr. Rumble points at Sonata, most likely to catch her off guard, while deciding to lead the way with signaling who will sing next.

_Sonata: Man, it doesn't show signs of stopping_

_Adagio: And I've brought me some corn for popping_

_Aria: The lights are turned down way down low_

_All three: Let it snooow, let it snooow_

"Nice! Now... you!"

_Mr. Light: When we finally kiss goodnight_

_Mrs. Velvet: How I'll hate going out in the storm_

_Shining: But if you really hold me tight_

_Aeon: All the way home I'll be warm!_

"Gorgeous! Now, you!"

_Shade: And the fire is slowly dying_

_Sunset: And, my dear, we're still goodbying_

_Fluttershy: But as long as you love me so_

_Rainbow/Pinkie: Let it snow, let it snow, and snooow!_

"Keep it going!"

_Rarity: When we finally kiss goodnight_

_Applejack: How Ah'll hate going out in the storm_

_Stylite: But if you really grab me tight_

_Visor: All the way home I'll be warm!_

"Bring it home!"

_Pixel: O-Oh, the fire is slowly dying_

_Sci-Twi: And, my dear, we're still goodbying_

_Levin: But as long as you love me so_

_Everyone: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snooow!_

Ending with the finishing notes, the entire room was filled with applause at their wonderful caroling singing.

"That was awesome!" Rainbow points out the obvious, the others agreeing on that. "Let's do another one!"

* * *

The evening was getting late as it fell into midnight, the moon high in the sky behind the clouds to give that away. The group were saying their goodbyes to the first ones leaving, which was Sci-Twi and her family.

"That was very fun! Thanks again for inviting us!" Mrs. Velvet smiles at Levin and Mr. Rumble as she said this.

"Thank you for coming!" The former excitedly agrees with.

The four then went on their way, with Sci-Twi being strangely slower than them, when Mr. Rumble just remembered something. "Wait, I forgot to ask you something!"

Mr. Rumble goes out into the cold towards the parents, Sci-Twi stopping in the process as he goes past her before she turns around to look at Levin. Seeing an opportunity, she goes back to the porch to talk with him.

"U-Um, I'm glad that you invited me. It was definitely different from the usual school break I have." She breaks the ice with.

"Glad to change it up for you. I was honestly felt kinda nervous when you showed up, I didn't want to bore you." He admits, rubbing the back of his neck as he said that.

"Oh no, it was anything but boring. The others made sure of that." She reassures him on his efforts.

"Great, great." He then realizes something, "I don't think we've ever shared phone numbers since our project."

She came to the same conclusion soon after, "You're right. Let's do that before we forget."

While the two were doing just that, Levin doesn't even feel the few pairs of eyes looking from around the corner behind him. Once the numbers were shared, the two put their phones in their pockets as Sci-Twi thought of something else.

"Y-You know, if you need help on your personal projects, I'll gladly share my lab equipment with you." She offers, which made his face light up in the process.

"Really? Great! I'm actually curious at the various tech you use." Levin gladly accepts it.

"Y-Yeah, that's why." Sci-Twi halfheartedly agrees with that.

Visor was visibly annoyed at Levin not seeing what was obvious, mouthing words in frustration as Shade slowly facepalms. _"Dude, come on!"_

As if some miracle popped into his friend's head, Levin then realizes what she may actually meant by her offer. "A-Although, I'll try not to have that distract me from you."

She simply blinks at his words as he clarifies what he just said, "Spending time with you. Plus, I'm sure Spike would like someone new to play with."

She couldn't help but giggle a bit at his rewording, "Yeah, I'm sure he will."

"Twily!" The two look over to see Shining waving at her, making their conversation come to an end as she waves back.

"I better get going. Merry Christmas!" Those were her final words before leaving to catch up with her family, Mr. Rumble walking past her as he comes back from talking with her parents about something.

"Good thing I remembered to ask about the recipe. Whatever she brought was excellent." His dad comments as he enters the hallway, Levin casually closing the door behind him in the process.

Levin has a bright smile on his face while he was deep in thought about what has happened, only to be startled by a hand grabbing his shoulder.

"Smooth." Visor casually said before chuckling, making his friend a bit confused.

"Wait, how long were you-" Levin was cut off by Shade who walks over, "Long enough to see the slip up and recovery."

Levin just stared at the two before walking back to the living room while commenting, "So nosy..."

"We prefer the term 'wingman'." Visor corrects his friend as he follows Levin, Shade chuckling at this in the process.

Stylite and Pixel simply watched as the three walk past them, the former reminiscing out loud. "I see they have changed from what I remember."

"Nope, still the same." The latter was right to the point with his thoughts, making his brother laugh. "Guess that goes for you too, huh?"

Pixel gives a small smile in response to that rhetorical question. As the boys were doing their thing, the girls were conversing with each other with Pinkie chiming in about something rather obvious.

"So, what list do you guys think we got on this year? The usual nice list or the forbidden naughty list?"

"I'm surprised you would ask that, Pinkie. You know we're all on the nice list." Sunset has a very good point there.

"But of course! I just want us to have a conversation off screen until the camera comes back!" Pinkie casually said, basically being herself as always.

"Yeah, that's why." Sunset shrugs it off, used to her antics at this point.

"You say some funny stuff, Pinkie!" Sonata compliments her, which she gladly takes with a smile.

"That's saying something coming from you." Aria teases her sister, which confuses her. "Why do you say that?"

"Well for one thing, you confused apple juice for grape juice." Adagio recalls from their time at CHS, "Admittedly, I was laughing on the inside."

"It was a moment my brain tooted, give me a break!" Sonata was a little annoyed, though she knew they were just teasing her.

Rarity then stretches her arms a bit before speaking, "Well, I'm quite tired now. I better go home before I fall asleep here."

The rest of the Rainbooms agree with that sentiment, leading to them saying their goodbyes before taking their leave along with Aeon who had his own business to attend to. After some time passes, the remaining people are now the Dazzlings, Levin, and Marvel who was now talking with the girls.

"Do you three need a ride home?"

"No need, we're already home!" Sonata casually answers, confusing the man.

"I'm sorry?"

"Hey, Dad. You mind if we talk for a sec?" Levin then grabs his father's arm to pull him upstairs to talk.

Once they reached the top, Mr. Rumble starts the conversation. "What's exactly going on?"

"Well, you know when I said a lot has happened?" That response immediately gave the man the whole picture.

"...Are they homeless?" A nod from Levin confirms his thoughts, "I see. How long have they stayed here?"

"About a couple of weeks now." He honestly answers.

Marvel looks at him for a moment before glancing at the girls down below, seeing them having their own conversation, and looks back at his son.

"What can you tell me about them?"

"Adagio's the leader of the group, she mainly keeps her sisters in check and likes to portray herself as the mature one. Aria's the level-headed one, pretty observant and tend to tease the other two. Sonata's the cheerful one, wanting to keep others around her in a good mood and is quite silly at times."

Mr. Rumble was listening intently as his son was describing them, making it sound like he was rather fond of them.

"What do you think of them?"

"...This may sound crazy, but they fill in something I was missing."

"And that would be?"

"...A family."

That made Marvel go quiet for a moment, thinking about why Levin would answer with that until coming to one conclusion.

"Is it that lonely, even with the others around?" He asks, mainly out of concern.

"...The nights are too quiet. Even with all I have, it only makes the silence heavier."

Marvel heard the sorrow in his voice as he spoke, getting another picture that made him realize the distance between them.

"Then if that's the case, I don't see why they can't stay permanently." Levin was surprised at that, "Really!?"

"As long as they can carry their own weight, of course. But even then, I know you would want them here no matter what."

Levin had a big smile on his face as he gives his father a big hug, "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem, kid. Plus, I'm kinda curious about them as well." Marvel admits.

"That's a long story, honestly."

"And I have the time to listen. You did say a lot has happened."

"I'll start from the beginning then."

And the night ends with the two spending time with the Dazzlings, with the cold winter night lit by the full moon in the sky.

**And done! We are done! YES! YES! YES!**

**With a long chapter to boot, too. Though, there are at least two reasons why I wanted the special to be last.**

**One: I wanted to use it to introduce more characters that I'll use for the later stories.**

**Two: It's fitting due to when the story was taking place.**

**Now, what has happened? Well:**

**A time skip has passed and we find ourselves at Levin's for a big Christmas party. His invites were answered by the familiar faces, as well as some unexpected guests. ****Even with the new faces, the party goes off without a problem.**

**Throughout the evening, the large group find themselves enjoying their company and has their bonds strengthened, ending with Levin now having a bigger family.**

**Of course, there will be more to come as the Games are getting closer. However, I want to do a story that is essentially similar to the shorts, but are equally important to the main stories. I call it:**

**Calm after the Storm!**

**Named that since it's just a smaller set of stories. I'm still deciding if it's gonna be all in one, just needing to go back to it after each major story, or make each set of shorts a separate season from each other.**

**With all that said... wow. It's been a year since this story debuted and it has gone through a lot. From a simple beginning to a heartwarming finale, the series can now lift off into its own.**

**Thank you fellow readers for sticking with me for this long, and I will see you all next story!**

**EDIT: I know I briefly mentioned it, but this can be a Christmas Special AND a one year anniversary in one since this story started back in April last year. Also, I was thinking of writing for my other stories for a bit before doing the next one in the lineup, so I ask that you be patient with me. Now, I'll see you all next story!**


End file.
